Andhra Pradesh government gets Telangana HC nod to pay AgriGold scam victims

HYDERABAD:  In a relief to the victims of AgriGold scam, a division bench of the Telangana High Court on Monday permitted the Andhra Pradesh government to pay money to genuine depositors on humanitarian grounds.

The bench directed the government to complete the exercise of disbursing money to the victim depositors frome the state by end of this year or before March 31 next year. The State has decided to disburse a total compensation of Rs 1,050 crore to the victims who deposited up to Rs 20,000 with the company.

The bench also permitted the Andhra Pradesh government to constitute committees comprising Collector and Superintendent of Police, local police Circle Inspector and ward secretariat member for identification of genuine depositors and to process their applications for payments.

As for the AP government’s plea to transfer the present case to Andhra Pradesh for adjudication, the bench made it clear that the administrative power to transfer the case was with the High Court Chief Justice.

In fact, the AgriGold case victims are there in several other States apart from AP and Telangana, it noted. The bench, comprising Justices MS Ramachandra Rao and T Amarnath Goud, passed this order in batch petitions filed by Telangana AgriGold depositors and Agents Welfare Association, and others, seeking CBI probe into the AgriGold scam and return money to over 32 lakh depositors.

When the counsels appearing for other parties such as bankers and Karnataka Agents Welfare Association urged the court to pass necessary directions in their pleas, the bench made it clear that it cannot take up several applications at a time for adjudication.

The bench said it would take up the applications pending in the present case from time to time as the court needs time to grasp the facts, and adjourned the case hearing by two weeks.