In a major setback to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, the Karnataka High Court dismissed the petition filed by the Congress leader seeking action against the state’s Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot. The case was heard by a single bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna, who said the matter required further investigation and reserved its verdict.
The chief minister had filed the petition against the sanction granted by the Karnataka governor to prosecute Siddaramaiah for alleged irregularities in the allotment of 14 sites by the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) to his wife.
“The facts stated in the petition would undoubtedly require investigation, notwithstanding the fact that the beneficiary of all the acts is not an outsider but the family of the petitioner. The petition is dismissed,” Justice Nagaprasanna said.
Reacting to the court’s order, the Karnataka chief minister said that the Congress and all its ministers, MLAs, party leaders, workers and the high command “are with me”. Siddaramaiah further said that the Congress high command will cooperate in the legal battle. The Congress leader further said that he is not afraid of “conspiracies of the BJP, JD(S)”.
The Karnataka governor gave his sanction to prosecute the chief minister on August 16. The case was filed based on three petitions filed by complainants – T J Abraham, Pradeep Kumar and Snehamayi Krishna.
The approval was given under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Section 218 of the Indian Civil Security Code (BNSS), 2023. However, on August 19, the Chief Minister moved the Karnataka High Court against this approval. After six sittings since August 19, the court has reserved its order.
After the High Court dismissed the case, Karnataka BJP demanded Siddaramaiah to resign as Chief Minister. Party state president BY Vijayendra said that the High Court has ruled that the Governor’s permission is as per the law.
“I request the chief minister to put aside his allegations against the governor, respect the high court order and since there are allegations that your (chief minister’s) family is involved in the MUDA (site allotment) scam, you should respectfully resign from the post of chief minister,” he told reporters.
The MUDA scam case centres on the exchange of valuable land in a prime area in exchange for less desirable land in a remote area of the city. The case involving the Karnataka chief minister relates to the allotment of alternative sites in the upmarket Mysore city to his wife Parvathy for ‘illegal acquisition’ of three acres and 16 guntas of land.
The irregularities were first pointed out by complainant Snehamayi Krishna and she had highlighted several allegations against the Karnataka CM and his family. According to Krishna, MUDA created fake documents and acquired plots worth crores of rupees.
