Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit on Friday recused himself from hearing a petition filed by Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and former State Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani against the Karnataka High Court order, which allowed restoration of a criminal case against them in the alleged illegal land de-notification case.
After the matter was listed before the Supreme Court Bench headed by the CJI and also comprising Justice Hemant Gupta, Justice Lalit refused to hear the same, stating that he was having some difficulty. He then directed the Registry to list the issue before another Bench, of which he was not a member.
The case pertained to de-notification of 1.11 acre land at Gangenahalli, which was part of the Matadahalli layout in RT Nagar in Bengaluru.
On May 5, 2015, the Lokayukta Police had registered a case against Yediyurappa, Nirani, former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and others under Sections 13(1)(c), 13(1) (d) r/w 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988; Sections 409, 413, 420, 120(b) r/w 34 of IPC and Sections 3 and 4 of The Karnataka Land (Restriction on Transfer) Act, 1991.
Karnataka High Court had, on December 23, 2020, refused to quash another criminal complaint registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act against the then Chief Minister Yediyurappa, on allegations of de-notifying parcels of land and allotting it to entrepreneurs, during his tenure as the Deputy Chief Minister of the state, between February 2006 and October 2007.
The High Court even imposed a cost on him.
A special court in Bengaluru, dealing exclusively with criminal cases related to elected representatives in Karnataka, had ordered registration of a criminal case of corruption against Yediyurappa in March this year, in connection with the land de-notification.
The case pertained to private land acquired by the state government for setting up an IT park in Bengaluru, when the BJP-JDS coalition government was in power in Karnataka during 2006-07.
Nearly 434 acres of the acquired land was allegedly illegally denotified and handed over to private parties for illegal gain through a July 21, 2006 government notification.
In 2021, bench led by CJI SA Bobde had admitted the special leave petition and stayed the arrest of Yediyurappa.
Case title: BS Yediyurappa vs A Alam Pasha