Karnataka CM B S Yediyurappa Gets Relief As Supreme Court Stays Criminal Proceedings In Denotification Case

The Supreme Court has stayed an order of the Karnataka High Court that reinstated criminal proceedings against Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa in a case of land denotification.

The Karnataka High Court in an order dated March 17 had accepted the plea of activist Alam Pasha, who is also the original complainant in the matter, and ordered the special Lokayukta court to take cognisance of the offences mentioned in the chargesheet.

The case pertains to the alleged ‘illegal gratification’ involved in the release of a government-acquired land to private persons in 2011.

As reported by LiveLaw, the 2011 case alleges that Yediyurappa, during his earlier tenure as chief minister between 2008-2012, had illegally denotified 20 acres of private land from land acquisition proceedings to give ‘undue favours to private parties’, thereby causing the exchequer a loss of service fee worth Rs 2.64 crore and development of Rs 6 crore.

This case had been dismissed in 2016, but the Karnataka High Court recently set aside the order and ordered criminal proceedings be instituted against the CM.

Seeking reinstatement, Pasha argued that the sessions court had ‘wrongly’ dropped the case citing a police report of closure.

As submitted by Pasha, a final report by the Lokayukta Police had dropped the cases against others named in the case but filed a chargesheet against Yediyurappa and his erstwhile cabinet colleague Katta Subramanya Naidu.

Justice John Michael Cunha had accepted the same and ordered the special court to take cognisance of the offences mentioned in the chargesheet and proceed as per law, as reported.

This order was challenged by Yediyurappa before the apex court on the grounds that he had not been named in the PCR or the FIR registered by the police and hence there were no allegations against him.

The court upheld his plea and a bench comprising Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian stayed the High Court order.