SC allows N Ram and Kuldip Nayyar to file interventions

New Delhi, Feb 22 (UNI) The Supreme Court today allowed Hindu Editor-in-chief N Ram and former Indian Express Editor Kuldip Nayyar to intervene on behalf of Editors Guild in the case of E-TV Owner Ramoji Rao who has challenged Andhra Pradesh government orders for a probe into the affairs of his company Margdarshi Financiers.

A bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices R V Raveendran and D K Jain permitted the two leading media personalities to file their intervention applications in the case as the two have alleged that the state government headed by Y S Rajashekhar Reddy was trying to gag the media especially Ramoji Rao who through his newspapers and tv network was exposing corruption in the state government including shady land deals involving the family members of the Chief Minister.

Ramoji Rao has also contended in his petition which is coming up for hearing on February 23, that the impugned orders of the state government were vindictive in nature and the Chief Minister was trying to settle scores with him for exposing his government, by using the state police. According to the RBI, which is the competent authority to inquire into the complaints, not even a single investor has complained against Margdarshi Financiers and the inquiry ordered by the state government was aimed at creating panic among the investors, Mr Rao has submitted.

Rao has also contended that it was an attack on the freedom of the press, the view supported by Ram and Nayyar also.

Ramoji, whose premises were raided yesterday by the state authorities, has also challenged the state High Court judgment deleting the name of the Chief Minister from the list of respondents at whose instance according to him violent demonstrations were held by Congress workers and his effigies were also burnt.

The applications of N Ram and Kuldip Nayyar will also be heard tomorrow by the apex court. Lately the government of Rajashekhar Reddy has been under fire for its alleged high handedness not only from the media but also from opposition leaders like TDP supremo Chandrababu Naidu, the former Chief Minister of the state.

UNI