The High Court of Karnataka has dismissed a petition filed by a close relative of the former Minister D.K. Shivakumar questioning the permission given by the State government to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the alleged corruption charges against the Congress leaders and others.
The government, acting on communications from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which has been probing a money-laundering case against Mr. Shivakumar, had written to the CBI and the State’s Home Department, which had on September 25, 2019 granted “sanction” for the CBI to probe the case under Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946. Justice Nataraj Rangaswamy passed the order while dismissing the petition filed by Shashi Kumar Shivanna, 58, chief manager with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., Bengaluru, and a close relative of Mr. Shivakumar.
The petitioner was found allegedly engaged in property transactions on behalf of Mr. Shivakumar, who is facing charge of involvement in benami investments in a number of properties as per records of the ED. It was contended in the petition that the State government could not have granted “sanction” for his “prosecution” as he is not an employee of the State government and that the CBI had not sought the State government’s sanction. The petitioner had also claimed that he had the right to challenge the “sanction” since the letter from the ED and the Home Department contained reference to his name.
However, the court said that the word “sanction”, used in the September 25, 2019 order of the State government, in fact, means that it is only the “consent” granted, under Section 6 of the DSPE Act, to the CBI to investigate the case in the territory of Karnataka against Mr. Shivakumar and others, and not the “sanction” for prosecution of the petitioner under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The reference to the petitioner in the consent order was only incidental while recording the findings of the ED and nothing else and the petitioner failed to establish as to how any of his rights were infringed or violated by the consent granted by the State government, the court observed.
“The petitioner may probably have a right to question any inquiry or investigation if it is commenced by the CBI without the approval of the Central government but certainly, he has no locus standi to challenge the order of consent granted by the State government,” the court said.
