Observing that there is sufficient material to proceed against former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa in a corruption case related to denotification of lands acquired for IT parks, a special court in Bengaluru has ordered issue of summons to him.
The special court constituted to exclusively deal with criminal cases related to MPs, MLAs in Karnataka passed the order on March 26, 2022, on a private complaint filed in 2013 by one Vasudeva Reddy.
It was alleged in the complaint that Mr. Yediyurappa, acting as Deputy Chief Minister, in 2006, had abused his power and caused loss to the Government by ordering denotification of several parcels of lands situated in between Whitefield and Electronics city, which were acquired for Information Technology parks to be formed by the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB),
“I am of the opinion that prima facie it cannot be said that denotification has been ordered by the accused No. 2 in exercise of the lawful powers vested in him,” said B. Jayantha Kumar, judge of the special court in his order.
The judge pointed out that Mr. Yediyurappa had ordered denotification even though the Law Department, the then Advocate General, and the then Additional Secretary (Mines) had given opinion that lands cannot be denotified.
The special judge also observed: “I am of the considered opinion that there are sufficient material to proceed against the accused by registering a special criminal case and summoning accused No. 2 [Mr. Yediyurappa] for his attendance and give an opportunity to the complainant to establish his allegations against Mr. Yediyurappa.”
Background
The case has seen a multiple rounds of litigations. Originally, the complaint was lodged against then Minister R.V. Deshpande and nine others, including Mr. Yediyurappa. However, the special court for Lokayukta cases had ordered probe against only Mr. Deshpande and Mr. Yediyurappa.
Later, the High Court in 2015 quashed the complaint against Mr. Deshpande and this order was confirmed by the apex court in 2017. The High Court had also confirmed the special court’s order for not ordering investigation against the remaining eight persons.
However, the High Court on December 22, 2020, had dismissed Mr. Yediyurappa’s petition against the probe ordered by the special court. The High Court had also pulled up the Lokayukta police for not conducting probe even between February 18, 2015, and April 2, 2019, even though there was no stay order of the High Court operating during this period.
Later, the Lokayukta police filed ‘B’ report stating that the alleged offence could not be established. But the special court in July 2021 rejected the ‘B’ report and ordered further investigation. In the additional ‘B’ report filed in August 2021, the Lokayukta police had stated that “there is no material or evidence to file charge sheet”.
However, the special court on November 27, 2021, rejected the ‘B’ report, took cognisance of offence, and decided to examine the complainant. On examining the complainant and the documents, the special court has now found ‘ sufficient material’ to proceed against Mr. Yediyurappa.
