The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a Karnataka High Court order refusing to quash corruption charges against former Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa in an illegal land de-notification case dating back to 2006-07.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India N. V. Ramana, while issuing notice to the State of Karnataka, froze the implementation of the December 2020 order of the High Court in the case concerning the illegal de-notification of large tracts of land in Whitefield IT Corridor acquired for an infotech-related project in 2006-07. Mr. Yediyurappa was the Deputy Chief Minister then in the BJP-JD(S) coalition government headed by H. D. Kumaraswamy.
Slams Lokayukta police
In 2020, the Karnataka High Court, while dismissing the plea to quash criminal proceedings, had slammed the Lokayukta police for not completing the probe in five years.
The High Court had directed the Lokayukta court to monitor the investigation ordered by the courts with regard to the misconduct of MPs, MLAs involved in criminal offences.
The case was registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act on the direction of the Lokayukta Court to the Lokayukta police on February 21, 2015, based on a complaint by Vasudeva Reddy.
In its order, the High Court had noted that it cannot be said the Lokayukta police had succumbed to pressure from Mr. Yediyurappa. However, it had added that the Lokayukta, being an independent and impartial body entrusted with the duty to inquire into the misconduct of public servants objectively, cannot afford to give rise to an impression in the minds of public that it was playing into the hands of the political bigwigs.
