Show your role in complaint against BSY, DKS: SC to NGO

The Supreme Court on Tuesday told NGO Samaj Parivartan Samudaya that it can't rely upon complaints filed by others seeking to reopen a corruption case against Karnataka CM B S Yediyurappa and senior Congress leader D K Shivakumar, arising out of a land denotification in Bengaluru in 2010.

"You can't do piggyback, you can't ride on somebody's shoulder," a three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice S A Bobde told advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO.

The court asked the counsel to show within two weeks if the NGO had previously filed a complaint with the Lokayukta.

"We are not clear who are you in this case. We want to know when did you file complaint before Lokayukta and what happened to it," the bench, also comprising Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant further asked the counsel.

Bhushan, for his part, maintained that the concept of locus standi is alien to criminal law. He also said that the present case showed "bi-partisan nature of corruption in Karnataka". He insisted action against the leaders was initiated on a complaint by the petitioner.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi and P S Narasimha, appearing for the leaders, contended that the NGO was not a party to the criminal proceedings.

The matter related to the denotification of 4.20-acre land in Bengaluru allegedly in contravention of the Karnataka Restriction of Transfer of Land Act, 1991 and in violation of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code during a previous stint of Karnataka CM Yediyurappa to provide undue benefit to senior Congress leader Shivakumar.

The Karnataka HC had on December 18, 2015, quashed the complaint. A special leave petition filed by Kabbalegowda, a social worker from Ramanagaram district, was withdrawn in the top court.

A separate bench had in September 2019 permitted the NGO led by S R Hiremath to file a special leave petition as he had questioned the top court's permission to withdraw the petition on February 21, 2019, in his absence as he had then filed an intervention application.

First complainant T J Abraham had also withdrawn his petition.

Besides the leaders, Hamed Ali, then working sub-registrar at Bengaluru South Taluk, and others were also accused in the case. The trial court had on February 5, 2012, taken cognisance of the offences.