SC notice to Katta on plea against quashing KIADB land scam proceedings

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to former minister and BJP leader Katta Subramanya Naidu on a plea by the Karnataka government against quashing of the Lokayukta proceedings against him in the KIADB scam.

The Rs 360-crore scam involved the then minister for industries, IT&BT, his son and others. They were alleged to have defrauded farmers by taking over their land. The then minister was accused of illegal gratification; committing irregularities in allotment of lands and exercising undue influence on various persons and KIADB officials.

He was also accused of forgery. He was alleged to have dropped approximately 450 acres of land in Bandikodigehalli from acquisition and notified those separately for acquisition without the consent of land owners.

A bench of Justices P C Ghose and R F Nariman admitted the special leave petition filed by the state government for consideration against the high court's order of November 3, last year.

The court, however, refused to stay the order even as senior advocate Vikas Singh, along with state standing counsel Joseph Aristotle, contended that if the order was not put on hold, it may impact pending proceedings in other cases.

In a related petition, Additional Advocate General Devadutt Kamat challenged the high court's order passed on March 10, 2016, that has quashed criminal proceedings against managing director of ITASCA Software Development Pvt Ltd, S V Srinivas.

The court also issued notice to Srinivas, who was alleged to have paid money to the then minister and his son. It sought response from him as Kamat contended that the high court quashed charges framed against the firm's official.