The Karnataka High Court has sought responses from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Union government, the State of Karnataka and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on a petition seeking CBI probe into the alleged Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice NV Anjaria and Justice KV Aravind further issued notice to Siddaramaiah’s wife BM Parvathi, his brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy and one, Devaraju, among other respondents on Wednesday, and listed the matter for further hearing on April 28.
The order was passed on a petition filed by RTI activist Snehamayi Krishnan challenging the single-judge Bench verdict.
On February 7, the single-judge Bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna of the High Court refused to transfer probe in the alleged MUDA scam to the CBI on the grounds that there was nothing on record to show that the Lok Ayukta Police had conducted a lop-sided, partisan or shoddy investigation.
Appearing for the petitioner, Senior Advocate KG Raghavan said that since the investigation wing of the Lok Ayukta was subject to the overall superintendence of the government, headed by the person against whom the accusation has been made (Chief Minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah), the Lok Ayukta police could not be expected to conduct a fair investigation in the matter.
The hearing witnessed a brief exchange between the Bar and the Bench over how the maintainability of cases was being determined even before the matter reached the judges.
Referring to the objections raised by the Court’s Registry, Chief Justice Anjaria said the office was judging the maintainability, though not in this matter. It was as if the Court’s jurisdiction was being taken away. The maintainability was part of the office objections, which was not comprehensible, at least not for him, he added.
In a lighter vein, the High Court Chief Justice said that maintainability was often in the hands of lawyers too. If they argued well, the judges entertained the petition.
Supporting the Chief Justice’s view, Senior Advocate Raghavan said the Supreme Court has ruled that every writ petition was maintainable. Whether it was entertainable or not, was a different issue.
On August 17, Karnataka Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot granted sanction to prosecute the Chief Minister in connection with the alleged irregularities in the allotment of alternative sites by MUDA during Siddaramaiah’s tenure as Chief Minister in his previous term.
The Governor granted sanction for investigation and prosecution against Siddaramaiah under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 218 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita on a complaint filed by activists TJ Abraham, Mysore’s Snehamai Krishna, and Bangalore’s Pradeep Kumar SP.
The case concerned allegations of corruption in the grant of land by the MUDA to Siddaramaiah’s wife, Parvathi.
As per the complaint, Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathi was ‘gifted’ a land plot measuring over three acres by her brother Mallikarjuna Swamy. The land was initially acquired, then de-notified, and bought by Swamy. It was then developed by MUDA, even though private individuals owned it.
Swamy claimed that he bought the land in 2004 and gifted it to his sister. However, since the land was illegally developed by MUDA, Parvathi sought compensation. She allegedly received highly inflated compensation, including 14 developed alternate plots of land that were much higher in value than the original three acres, under a 50:50 scheme.