MUDA 'scam' probe: Karnataka High Court rejects plea to transfer case against CM Siddaramaiah to CBI

Dismissing the petition, Justice M Nagaprasanna said that not one case is placed on record where the investigation from an independent body is taken away midstream and transferred to the hands of the CBI.

Bengaluru: In a big relief to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, the Karnataka High Court on Friday refused to transfer the investigation in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) alternative sites allotment case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Dismissing the petition filed by one of the complainants in the case, Justice M Nagaprasanna said that not one case is placed on record where the investigation from an independent body like Lokpal or Lokayukta is taken away midstream and transferred to the hands of the CBI.

".. In the considered view of this court, institutional integrity, independence of the Lokayukta will not be forgotten, as it is competent to investigate the offence against a sitting Chief Minister, as it has done in the past. If the past was good, the present cannot be found to be in flaw," Justice Nagaprasanna said.

The petition was filed by Snehamayi Krishna contending that an impartial probe is not possible since Chief Minister Siddaramaiah wields immense power and influence over the state departments, especially the state investigating agencies such as the police authorities and the Karnataka Lokayukta police. The petitioner relied on Apex Court judgements transferring investigation under certain circumstances.

The court framed three issues; the independence of the Lokayukta office, circumstances in which the constitutional courts either transferred or rejected investigation/further investigation/reinvestigation to the CBI and whether the material on record in the case at hand merits transfer to the CBI.

The court held that the Lokayukta/office of the Lokayukta does not suffer from questionable independence. “The insulation of the institution from external influences is already recognized by the Apex Court and the Division Bench of this Court. There is no malady of the kind that is projected by the Supreme Court, present in the case at hand, to refer the matter for further/re-investigation to the hands of the CBI. It is not the panacea to the projected ill,” Justice Nagaprasanna said.

The court further said, “The material on record, on its perusal, nowhere indicates that the investigation conducted by the Lokayukta is partisan, lopsided or shoddy for reference to the CBI for further investigation or re- investigation.”

The court also noted that the petitioner had originally sought an investigation by the Lokayukta police. “The Police wing of the Lokayukta is answering to the Lokayukta or the Additional Director General of Police of the Lokayukta. The Act itself insulates them from political interference. The independence of the Lokayukta to conduct investigation in cases of high functionaries cannot be stifled by an order of this Court.  If done, it would render the very Act redundant, as the Act covers investigation against the Chief Minister sitting or former; against high functionaries – the Ministers in the State. Public confidence in the institution of the kind, that is, the Lokayukta cannot be excoriated for the asking by the petitioner, whose bona fides in seeking the particular prayer being doubtful,” the court said.

Lokayukta Police to file report

The court examined the records of investigation and said that it did not find any partisan, biased, lopsided or shoddy investigation by Lokayukta police. “The Additional Director General of Police has overseen the investigation and has furnished a separate report. All those reports are now to be placed before the concerned Court.

A perusal of the report by this Court is only to satisfy itself whether the material on record would need further or re-investigation at the hands of the CBI. In the considered view of this Court, it does not require, re/further/denovo investigation by the CBI,” the court further said adding that Lokayukta police would be at liberty now to place the report before the special court and it is for the petitioner to avail all such remedies as available in law.