The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the adverse remarks and proceedings initiated by a Karnataka High Court judge against the state's Anti Corruption Bureau and its head.
The court asked the High Court judge to decide the bail petition, wherein stinging remarks were made, besides the claim of having received a threat of transfer, saying those observations were "irrelevant and detrimental" to the fair trial for the accused.
A bench presided over by Chief Justice N V Ramana, however, said allegations related to the threat of transfer were a different issue and the court did not want to give an impression that it was favouring one side.
After hearing Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and S Nagamuthu, along with advocate Sanjay M Nuli, for the Karnataka government, ACB chief Seemant Kumar Singh and an IAS officer J Manjunath respectively, the court noted that while considering a bail application, the judge focussed on other things which may not be relevant and fell beyond the scope of the matter.
The bench suspended the operation of the High Court's orders which called for details of the closure report filed by the ACB in all matters since 2016.
The court posted the special leave petitions by the Karnataka government and the officers for consideration after three weeks.
Karnataka High Court's judge Justice H P Sandesh had made a sensational claim that he received a transfer threat for his remarks against the functioning of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in the state.
The High Court was then hearing a criminal petition filed by an accused deputy tehsildar arrested by the ACB for accepting bribes, allegedly on behalf of the deputy commissioner (Bengaluru Urban).
The state government as well as ACB chief Seemant Kumar Singh had already filed separate petitions against the High Court's order and observations.