In a setback to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday dismissed his petition challenging Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot's sanction for an investigation against him in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) 'scam' case. It has been alleged that Siddaramaiah's wife Parvathi was illegally allocated 14 premium sites by MUDA in Mysuru city.
The Governor had approved the prosecution on petitions submitted to him by three social activists.
Justice M Nagaprasanna had reserved orders after Siddaramaiah's counsels and the three complainants concluded their submissions on 12 September. "The facts narrated in the petition would undoubtedly require investigation, in the teeth of the fact that the beneficiary of all these acts is not anybody outside but the family of the petitioner. The petition stands dismissed," he said.
The order does not seem to have affected Siddaramaiah much, who went along with his engagements fixed for the day. Soon after the court delivered the judgement around noon, both the CM and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar reacted to the media before addressing a joint presser at 3.15 pm.
What is the Verdict?
Upholding the Governor's nod for prosecution, the court said:
The Gubernatorial order nowhere suffers from want of application of mind. It is not a case of not even a semblance of application of mind, by the governor, but abundance of application of mind.
The governor under normal circumstances has to act on the aid and advice of the council of ministers as under Article 163 of the Constitution but can take independent decisions if exceptional circumstances arise. The present case projects one such exception.
The court rejected the Governor's order issued under Section 218 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) which deals with the prosecution of public servants and judges, and confined the case to Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The complainants had sought permission for investigation and prosecution under Sections 218 BNSS, and Sections 17A and 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The Governor had initially rejected the request for prosecution under Section 19.
Justice Nagaprasanna asserted:
The petitioner is a public servant and the allegations against him are wanting to be investigated. If investigation has to ensue, it must pass through the gates of 17A. Therefore, approval under Section 17A from the hands of the Competent Authority is imperative, as it is the mandate of the statute. Without approval under Section 17A, no enquiry, inquiry or investigation can commence against a public servant.
Regarding the submission by Siddaramaiah's counsel that only a police officer is required to seek approval for enquiry, Justice Nagaprasanna stated:
I fail to understand what other case can merit investigation, as the beneficiary is the family of the petitioner and the benefit is by leaps and bounds, it is in fact a windfall. If the beneficiary were to be a stranger, this court would have shown the complainants their door of exit, while it is not. The beneficiary is the family of the petitioner, not today, right from 2004, the day on which the brother-in-law purchases the property and more so, from 2010 when he gifts the property to the wife of the petitioner.
The court also observed that an investigation is all the more necessary because if Siddaramaiah was not in power, the benefits of such magnitude would not have flown.
All the aforesaid allegations, in the considered view of the Court, would require investigation in the least, for the reason that if the petitioner was not in the seat of power, helm of affairs, the benefit with such magnitude would not have flown. It has hitherto never flown to any common man, nor can it, in future flow. It is unheard of for a common man to get these benefits in such quick succession bending the rule from time to time.
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High Command Backs Siddaramaiah
Addressing a joint press conference with senior cabinet ministers, Siddaramaiah described the case against him as that of "vindictive politics" by Prime Minister Narendra Modi against all non-Congress-ruled governments. "I am not afraid of this conspiracy and the misuse of Raj Bhavan for this purpose as the entire Congress party workers, ministers and the high command are with me. The high command will extend all cooperation to me to fight the case legally,'' the CM added.
Siddaramaiah said that BJP and the JD(S) have always come to power in Karnataka either through the backdoor or Operation Lotus (making ruling party MLAs resign and join them) using money and power and that they have never gotten a mandate on their own.
Even as the court verdict is an embarrassment to the Congress party, it appears that the high command is going to back Siddaramaiah to the hilt given that he is the sole leader in the party with a pan-Karnataka image, who has been able to hold the Ahinda (Kannada acronym for backward classes, minorities and dalits) together, the party's vote bank.
"Nothing will be done in a hurry. Neither will the CM resign nor are any protests planned. The party's rank and file, cabinet, and the high command are strongly behind Siddaramaiah,'' Congress MLC Prakash K Rathod told The Quint.
Shivakumar stated that Siddaramaiah has the support from "Delhi to halli (villages in Kannada)" in this matter. "This is a conspiracy of the BJP, where it is trying to fix the CM like the way they filed a case and sent me to jail. By God’s grace, my case has been quashed."
Additionally, the All India Congress Committee General Secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal stated, "The Modi-Shah regime’s relentless misuse of the Governor’s office is a matter of immense concern for our Constitutional democracy. Governors are mere titular heads and cannot interfere in the day-to-day functioning of state governments, they must adhere to the letter and spirit of the Constitution."
According to a senior Congress leader, the case was not handled properly by the CM's legal team. "When Siddaramaiah was the CM from 2013 to 2018, there were many contentious issues and every step was a landmine handled smoothly. The CM has nearly eight to nine advisors with him and losing the case indicates there was no weight in the arguments put forth by the legal team.''
He quoted an observation made by the judge, "None of the armoury that sprang from the arsenal of the learned senior counsel for the petitioner (Siddaramaiah) did lend any assistance, that would lead to the quashing of the order impugned."
Reacting to the verdict, Union Minister and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy said, "It's true that I participated in the padayatra related to MUDA. However, I have not called for anyone's resignation. There is a legal process in place, and I respect that." Reacting to Kumaraswamy, the CM said that he should realise he himself is on bail (in an illegal mining case).
Finally, the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly R Ashoka stated, "Siddaramaiah has suffered a setback. The court verdict is a victory for the BJP. If Siddaramaiah is a disciple of former Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde and has morals, he should resign.''
(Naheed Ataulla is a senior political journalist based in Bengaluru. This is an opinion article and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
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