- By Kamal Kumar
- Fri, 04 Oct 2024 07:45 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
The Supreme Court is set to hear today a bunch of petitions, including one that demands a court-monitored investigation into the row over the alleged use of animal fate 'ghee' in the making of the Tirupati laddus. Last week the apex court reprimanded the public allegations made by the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, asserting that the 'God should be kept out of politics'.
Earlier on Thursday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta urged the court to postpone the matter until Friday from the original date of the hearing. The top court is scheduled to take the matter at around 10:30 today.
"If your lordships permit, can I respond at 10.30 am sharp tomorrow," Mehta told the bench headed by Justice B R Gavai.
The bench agreed to his request and asked the matter to be listed on Friday. "List on October 4 as first item," the bench said in its order.
In the last hearing, the court had asked Solicitor General Mehta to assist in the case and his opinion on whether it should let Andhra's Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe the case or it should appoint some other independent agency to carry out inquiries.
The row over the prasadam of Sri Venkateshwara Tirupati temple erupted when Chief Minister Naidu levelled allegations of animal fat adulteration of the ghee used in making laddus at the revered deity in the previous Jagan Mohan Reddy regime.
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However, the Supreme Court slammed Naidu over his statements in public and raised many questions. It observed that the laboratory test report was "not clear at all" and appeared to indicate that "rejected ghee" was tested. The court also noted that the state had registered an FIR on September 25, followed by the formation of a special investigation team (SIT) on September 26 to investigate the issue.