NEW DELHI: THE Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Karnataka police to investigate the role of former chief ministers N Dharam Singh and HD Kumaraswamy in the iron ore mining case and file a report within three months.
However, the court extended a stay on the investigation against another former chief minister S M Krishna. Krishna joined BJP on March 22 after quitting the Congress.
A bench comprising Justices P C Ghose and RF Nariman restrained all other courts, including the high court, from passing any order in the case. The case dates back to the time when Krishna, Singh and Kumaraswamy held the office during their chief ministerial terms in Karnataka and allegedly gave away illegal mining contracts in the State.
The Karnataka High Court in 2012 directed the Lokayukta to initiate an inquiry pertaining to awarding mining contracts while Krishna was the CM of the state between 1999 and 2004. Krishna then moved the high court seeking relief but was denied the same. According to the complainant TJ Abraham, the former chief ministers colluded with several bureaucrats and others in de-registering a huge tract of forest land and allowed illegal iron ore mining on a large scale.
Abraham, a right to information (RTI) activist, had filed complaints against Krishna, Kumaraswamy and Singh seeking their prosecution for alleged irregularities in allotment of forest areas to private persons.
He had cited former Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde’s report that had named many politicians, bureaucrats and others, to contend that Krishna and others had allowed de-reservation of forest land in violation of the apex court’s order.
Earlier in January this year, a special Lokayukta court issued summons to Kumaraswamy and his wife for misusing his office to renew mining licence to a firm.