Lokayukta to petition SC against HC clean chit to Yeddyurappa

Close on the heels of the Karnataka High Court giving a clean chit to former State chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, terming his indictment by the Lokayukta in illegal mining case “bad in law”, the quasi judicial body on Monday decided to challenge the court order in the Supreme Court.

The Lokayukta will file a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the apex court soon, challenging the High Court order that had quashed the Lokayukta’s First Information Report (FIR) Yeddyurappa in the mining case.

The petition will be based on the concurrance given by newly appointed UpaLokayukta Chandrashekariah to the legal opinion submitted by the Lokayukta Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) B A Belliappa.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, the Upalokayukta said: “I also concur with the SPP’s arguments that it is a fit case to be pursued by the Lokayukta in the Supreme Court.
Section 7 (2) (a) of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act, 1984, does not give any room for providing an opportunity to a person in an enquiry. Apart from these, there are several other contentions which are raised.”

Chandrashekariah said that the insitution would be filing an SLP based on these contentions in the apex court.

Lokayukta police sources confirmed the intention of the quasi-judicial body by stating that “it has to be fought” to reverse the blow the Lokayukta had received in the illegal mining report case. “We are awaiting the final procedural clearance by the chief of the legal cell, following which we will take the requisite action,” said the sources.

In the legal opinion submitted by Belliappa on March 9, the SPP had noted: “ The Honourable Court  failing to consider the objections and materials placed on behalf the Lokayukta has erroneously passed the judgment in question without considering the materials on record and  ignoring the principles / law laid down by this Honourable Court in the Dr K. Chowdappa Vs State of Karnataka & others reported in ILR 1990 Kar.798, which is perverse.”

Belliappa stated that the High Court, while allowing the petition on the ground of violation of principles of natural justice, had also incidentally touched upon the merits of the matter, without substantiating with reasons, which is without considering the materials on record.

These passages were the premise of chapter 22 of the illegal mining report submitted by former Lokayukta Santosh Hegde.