New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Monday said it is not powerless to annul proceedings related to Karnataka Lokayukta in a probe entrusted to it by the state to investigate disproportionate assets case against Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.
The matter came up for hearing before Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan. Senior advocate K Parameswara, representing BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, contended that the efforts were in progress to set the entire process at nought as the probe had been handed over to the Lokayukta. He emphasised that the Lokayukta may file a closure report against the senior Congress leader and the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka.
The bench observed, "Are we so powerless that we can't declare one proceeding annulled and allow the other to continue?” The bench said it was not necessary that the court would accept the fait accompli.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the Karnataka government, sought time to file a response. The CBI's counsel sought a passover as Solicitor General Tushar Mehta was in another court. The bench said it would take up the matter on a non-miscellaneous day.
The apex court made these observations while hearing a plea by the CBI and Yatnal who separately challenged the withdrawal of consent to investigate the disproportionate assets case against Shivakumar. The apex court has fixed the matter for further hearing on January 22, 2025.
The CBI and the BJP leader moved the apex court against the Karnataka High Court's order of August 29, 2024. In November 2023, the current Karnataka cabinet headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, held that the previous BJP government's move to give consent to the CBI to investigate the DA case against Shivakumar was not in accordance with law. As a result, the state government decided to withdraw the sanction.
The Karnataka High Court, in August, held as "non-maintainable" a petition filed by the CBI and BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal challenging the Congress government's decision to withdraw the consent. Yatnal had already moved the apex court against the high court order.
According to the central agency, Shivakumar had accumulated Rs 74.93 crore of wealth disproportionate to known sources of income from April 2013 to April 2018, while serving as the energy minister in a previous Congress government. The apex court in September 2024, on Yatnal’s petition, had sought a response from the state government and Shivakumar.
