The Andhra Pradesh High Court has quashed the FIR registered by the CID against some individuals and companies accused of resorting to insider trading of lands in the Andhra Pradesh capital region (Amaravati).
In the order pronounced on Tuesday, a single-judge Bench consisting of Justice Ch. Manavendranath Roy said the right to acquire property was a Constitutional and legal right of the petitioners against whom the CID booked cases for allegedly purchasing lands in Amaravati from farmers deceptively having had prior information by virtue of their acquaintance with important people in the previous government on the location of the capital.
He ruled that private sale transactions could not be criminalised as the petitioners purchased lands from the sellers, who sold their holdings willingly and voluntarily for valid sale considerations under registered deeds.
Justice Manavendranath Roy observed that the concept of an offence of insider trading, which was essentially an offence in the field of stock markets relating to selling and buying the securities and bonds, could not be applied to offences under Sections. 420, 409, 406 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code.
He further stated that the petitioners were under no legal obligation to disclose the information relating to latent advantages in purchasing the land to the sellers at the time of buying their lands.
