Governor office refutes charges made in Yeddyurappa plea

The office of the Governor has sought the dismissal of former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa’s petition seeking the quashing of the sanction by Governor H R Bhardwaj to the Lokayukta for the criminal prosecution of Yeddyurappa over his involvement in the mining scam based on the Lokayukta’s report.

The Governor’s office said the plea was untenable and a gross abuse of the process of law.  In his objections to the petition submitted to the High Court on Thursday, Bhardwaj - through the principal secretary - refuted the allegations made by Yeddyurappa and said the writ petition was not maintainable as it was barred by the principles of res judicata (the thing adjudged).

“The report of the Lokayukta dated July 27, 2011 was a subject matter of challenge before this court, which has been dismissed. After challenging the report of the Lokayukta, the petitioner has sought to withdraw the writ petition unconditionally.

“After having withdrawn the writ petition, the question of challenging the very same report by the present writ petition is impermissible,” the objections said.

He further stated that since the authorities had registered an FIR and were investigating the matter, the proceedings were criminal in nature and would be governed by the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

On Yeddyurappa’s contention that an opportunity had to be given to him to explain by the Governor before accepting the report, the affidavit stated: “There is no declaration made under Section 13 of the Lokayukta Act by Lokayukta in the report. Therefore, Section 13 of the Act has no application and the question of providing any opportunity of hearing, therefore, does not arise.”

The affidavit further states: “There was no declaration made by Lokayukta that the petitioner should not continue to hold the post held by him. Therefore, in the absence of any declaration directing the petitioner to demit office, the petitioner’s decision to demit office was not based on any declaration by the Lokayukta, but was purely because of other reasons, which may be political. In the absence of any declaration under Section 13 of the Lokayukta Act, the report of the Lokayukta is by default treated as report under Section 12 (3).

Therefore, the same has been accepted and the decision of the competent authority has been conveyed under the signature of the Governor of Karnataka.”