BENGALURU: The High Court dismissed a petition filed by Shashi Kumar Shivanna, chief manager, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, challenging the state government’s order giving consent to the CBI to probe purported violations of Prevention of Corruption Act provisions by KPCC president D K Shivakumar and others. Shivanna is Shivakumar’s brother-in-law.
The state Home Department gave consent on September 25, 2019, under Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, allowing the CBI to investigate the case. Justice Nataraj Rangaswamy said the petition lacked merit and Shivanna has no locus standi to challenge the consent granted, as he is an officer of a Central government company.
“The apprehensions of the petitioner seem to be generated by the usage of the word ‘sanction’ instead of ‘consent’, and is ill-founded. The petitioner may have the right to question an inquiry if it is commenced by the CBI without Centre’s approval, but he has no locus standi to challenge the impugned order of consent granted by the Home Department,” the judge said.
The I-T Department had raided a property of Shivakumar in New Delhi in 2017, following which the Enforcement Directorate took up an investigation. It found that Shivakumar and others were involved in benami investments, with the KPCC president as the beneficiary