HC Quashes OMC Case Against IAS Officer Y Srilakshmi

Senior IAS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre Yerra Srilakshmi got a huge relief on Tuesday in the sensational Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) case, with the Telangana High Court giving her a clean chit and declaring her not guilty.

The High Court quashed the additional chargesheet filed by the CBI citing lack of evidence, and also absolved her of all charges in the decade-old case, in which she had also spent 11 months in jail.

The CBI court had last month dismissed her petition to quash the case, and she had subsequently challenged the same in the High Court.

The CBI, which has been investigating her role in the alleged illegal mining activity by the Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) in the Bellary reserve forest in Anantapur, had filed a chargesheet against her on March 30, 2012. Former CBI joint director V V Lakshminaryana had led the investigation.

The probe agency had alleged that Srilakshmi had misused her office during her term from 2007 to 2009 as Secretary, Industries & Commerce, in the government of the then united Andhra Pradesh, by conspiring to grant illegal mining licenses to favour OMC. She was made the sixth accused in the case.

The central agency had claimed that she had connived with OMC promoter and mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy and granted mining leases in Anantapur.

Earlier, the High Court had twice dismissed her discharge petitions, and in September 2021, had ruled that the CBI court was free to begin her trial.

Srilakshmi, a 1988 batch IAS officer, was arrested on November 28, 2011, by the CBI. She was subsequently sent to judicial custody and suspended by the government. She came out of jail in October 2012.

In 2016, the government revoked her suspension and she joined duty as IAS officer allotted to Telangana.

In 2020, Srilakshmi was inducted by the Andhra Pradesh government after she secured an order from the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT).

She was promoted as Special Chief Secretary last year. The High Court's latest order is expected to pave the way for her promotion as Chief Secretary.

Following allegations of large scale illegal mining and irregularities in allotments of mining leases to OMC in the reserve forest area in the Obulapuram and Malapanagudi villages of Anantapur district, the CBI had registered a case against OMC on December 7, 2009.