NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India UU Lalit on Friday recused himself from considering a plea filed by former Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa and minister Murugesh Nirani against a Karnataka High Court order of restoring a criminal case related to denotifying parcels of land during his tenure as deputy CM and allotting them to entrepreneurs.
When the matter was taken up for hearing, the CJI said, “I have some difficulty; I can’t take up this matter. I’m saying this should be before a bench of which I am not a member.” Accordingly, the CJI directed the matter to be listed before an appropriate bench after Diwali.
Yediyurappa had challenged the Karnataka HC’s January 5, 2021, order rejecting his plea to quash a criminal complaint filed by A Alam Pasha, alleging that the leader had illegally denotified 20 acres from land acquisition proceedings to unduly favour private parties. The HC had directed the Special Court to take cognisance and proceed as per law on the basis of the chargesheet filed by the Lokayukta police in 2012.
“That being the position of law, the quashing of the earlier complaint filed by the petitioner in PCR.No.25/2012 for want of sanction, in my view, will not operate as a bar to maintain the instant complaint. The prohibition contained in Article 20(2) of the Constitution of India and section 300 of the CrPC does not get attracted to the facts of the case as the respondents have not been prosecuted or acquitted based on the earlier complaint lodged against them in PCR.No.25/2012,” Justice John Michael D’Cunha had said in his order.
In 2021, a bench headed by the then CJI had refused to stay the HC’s order but had granted them interim protection from arrest. Former CJI SA Bobde, while hearing the petition, had said, “You are a sitting chief minister. Who will issue a warrant against you? At most, they can issue a request for you.”
Questioning the HC’s power of proceeding to take action under the Prevention of Corruption Act against a public servant without prior sanction, Yediyurappa in his plea had said, “Intention of the Parliament to offer protection to a Public Servant is also evident from the insertion of Section 17A in the PC Act.”