GO 41 sought to help ryots, HC told

Vijayawada: The then state government brought GO 41 to provide same benefits to the farmers of assigned lands on par with the farmers with private patta lands who gave their lands for the construction of capital, said senior counsel Dammalapati Srinivas. Arguing on behalf of former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and former minister P Narayana who have been made accused in the case registered by the Crime Investigation Department (CID), Srinivas said no farmer lodged any complaint stating that they have incurred loss because of GO 41.The GO was actually brought to protect the interests of farmers holding assigned lands. Following the earlier judgement of the high court and also the provisions of Land Acquisition Act 2013, the state government issued GO 41 extending the benefits to the farmers of assigned lands, said Srinivas.The CID registered a case under various sections of IPC and SC, ST Act against Naidu and Narayana based on a complaint lodged by Mangalagiri MLA, Alla Ramakrishna Reddy in February 2021. Naidu and Narayana moved high court seeking to quash the case registered against them. While the GO was issued in 2016, the complaint was lodged after five years by a person who is not an affected party, said Srinivas, and added in the absence of a complaint from any SC or ST farmer, how can the CID invoke SC ST Act.As the arguments of Srinivas did not complete before raising of the court, Justice VRK Krupa Sagar posted the matter for further hearing on Friday.
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