Siddaramaiah did not get relief from the High Court, case will be filed against CM in land scam case

Karnataka High Court has not given relief to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the Mysore Urban Development Authority case. The High Court has given permission to prosecute CM Siddaramaiah. During the hearing, the High Court said that there is a need to investigate the facts mentioned in the petition. The High Court had reserved its decision after completing the hearing of the case on September 12. In this petition, Siddaramaiah had challenged the approval given by Governor Thawarchand Gehlot for investigation against him in the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) case.

On Tuesday, the High Court gave its verdict on the Mysore Urban Development Authority case and said that the Governor can run the case according to the law. While passing the judgment, a bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna said that the governor can take "independent decisions" and that Governor Gehlot has "fully applied his mind. Therefore, there is no flaw in the governor's action as far as the order (to prosecute the chief minister) is concerned."

TJ Abraham, a complainant in the alleged Muda scam, said, "The anti-corruption movement has got a great boost. I am sure the judge has travelled far in various judgments across the country to arrive at this conclusion. This is a brilliant order. We were prepared for it."

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said, "There is no question of the chief minister resigning. He has not done anything wrong. He is not involved in any scam. This is a political conspiracy by the BJP. We stand with him, we support him. He is doing good work for the country, the party and the state." Minister Ramalinga Reddy said, "We have faith in the law. We will fight it." We will question (the decision) in the double bench, other benches and the Supreme Court. We stand with the Chief Minister.

Earlier, several senior lawyers, including Supreme Court lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, presented arguments on behalf of Siddaramaiah. While Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared on behalf of Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot. Apart from this, complainants' lawyers Snehmai Krishna and TJ Abraham also presented their arguments.

The complainants allege that MUDA illegally allotted 14 plots to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's wife at a prime location in Mysore. The Karnataka High Court had given temporary relief to Siddaramaiah in its interim order passed on August 19. Along with this, a special court in Bengaluru was also directed to suspend further proceedings and not to take any hasty action in compliance with the approval given by the Governor.

On August 31, the Karnataka Governor's office told the High Court that permission to prosecute Karnataka Chief Minister K Siddaramaiah in the Mysore Urban Development Authority scam was granted after "deliberations". In August, Karnataka government ministers and Congress MLAs conducted a 'Raj Bhavan Chalo' protest against Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot over permission to prosecute Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

Congress had accused the Governor that Governor acts with discrimination. Further, many cases are also pending before the governor, but he did not take a decision on it. Meanwhile, Governor Gehlot, last week sought a detailed report with documents from state Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh on alleged MUDA scam.

In fact, Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot has issued a show-cause notice to CM Siddaramaiah on MUDA land allotment scam in Karnataka. Along with that, he gave permission for investigation and prosecution of him. After this, CM Siddaramaiah moved High Court challenging the order passed by the Governor. High Court has postponed the hearing till August 31. The court also extended the interim order of August 19. In this, the High Court had asked the Special MP MLA Court to postpone the hearing of the complaints against CM Siddaramaiah till further proceedings.