A division bench of the High Court of Karnataka on July 31 referred to a single judge bench a petition seeking a direction for a probe against former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, some of his family members and others on allegations of receiving bribe from a construction company in relation to a contract for a project of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA).
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice N.S. Sanjay Gowda said that the petition, filed by Abraham T.J., a social activist and president of Karnataka Anti-Graft and Environmental Forum, Bengaluru, cannot be treated as a public interest litigation (PIL).
The bench directed that the petition be placed before a single judge bench while orally observing that the petition cannot be treated as a PIL as Mr. Abraham had unsuccessfully filed a complaint before the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) and the Special Court for dealing with criminal cases against MPs and MLAs.
The petition will now come for hearing before a single judge bench.
The petitioner had sought a direction from the court either to set up a special investigation team from amongst officers of the Anti Corruption Bureau to probe the allegations or direct the Central Bureau of Investigation to register a case and investigate the allegations.
The petitioner had on November 20, 2020, filed an application before the Governor seeking sanction for prosecuting Mr. Yediyurappa, and then lodged a complaint with the ACB on November 25, 2020, against Mr. Yediyurappa and others, but the ACB closed the complaint on December 15, 2020.
On June 4, 2021, he filed a private complaint before the Special Court for criminal cases against MPs and MLAs. The complaint was dismissed on July 8, 2021 for want of sanction from the Governor though the special court had observed that ‘no doubt there is some material to refer the complaint for investigation under Section 156(3) of the Cr.P.C.’
On June 30, the public prosecutor produced before the special court the order passed by the Governor on June 23, 2021 declining sanction for prosecution of Mr. Yediyurappa.
The petitioner has been seeking a probe accusing Mr. Yediyurappa of abusing the office of Chief Minister and his family members of receiving a bribe from representatives of M/s. Ramalingam Construction Company Pvt. Ltd. in relation to a contract of a housing project of the BDA.
