HC stays order banning govt ads for Jagan's media outlets

YSR Congress leader Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday received a shot in the arm when the Andhra Pradesh High Court imposed a stay on the state government's order banning the issuing of government advertisements to the Sakshi media group and Jagati publications, both of which are owned by him.

The government order came a day after the CBI got the bank accounts of the Sakshi media house frozen on the grounds that these entities were created with the 'ill-gotten proceeds of crime'.

The GO dated May 9 had said: "The government, after careful examination of the matter, in public interest, has decided to withhold releasing advertisements, notifications, etc, with immediate effect by all state government departments/agencies, public sector undertakings, corporations/organizations to Sakshi newspaper and TV till the charges are cleared."

The two media groups, which belong to Reddy, challenged the order before the high court terming it bad in law and without reason.

Meanwhile, another high court bench has reserved its verdict on a petition challenging the freezing of accounts belonging to these two groups and of Janani infrastructure, which also belongs to Jagan.

The verdict is likely to be pronounced on Monday.

The CBI had frozen these accounts as it believed that the money earned illegally by Jagan was parked in these accounts. The matter was first heard by the CBI court, which upheld the action of the CBI. This was then challenged by Jagan before the high court.