The Karnataka High court has pointed out that Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot could be acting on his own initiative regarding the sanction to prosecute Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the alleged MUDA scam, in which case he is not subject to the will of the cabinet. A single judge Bench of Justice M Nagaprasana said this while hearing the petition filed by Chief Minister seeking the scrapping of the Governor’s order. Mr Siddaramaiah has contended that the Governor’s move is illegal since he cannot act without the sanction of the state cabinet.
Appearing for the Chief Minister, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi pointed out that Mr Siddaramaiah has not made any decision or recommendation anywhere regarding the illegal grant of land.
“The Governor hasn’t applied his mind or dealt with a single point,” Mr Singhvi said, going through the procedure to prove his point.
To this the court pointed out that sanction “is an independent decision… The Governor need not fall back on the advice of the ministers”.
Mr Singhvi argued that the sanction is “fully reviewable”. “You are negating the mandate of the people… With no inputs taken from me by the Governor, this is judicially reviewable,” he added.
The hearing will continue on Saturday. Till then the court’s relief from prosecution granted to the Chief Minister will continue.
The alleged scam is linked to irregularities in land allocation by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority or MUDA. There have been allegations that the allocation of compensatory land parcels to BM Parvathi, Siddaramaiah’s wife far exceeds the value of the land given in exchange.
Activists have alleged that the 14 premium sites in Mysuru allotted to Siddaramaiah’s wife as compensation for acquired land was illegal and led to a loss of Rs 45 crore to the exchequer.
The Governor gave his consent for prosecution of the Chief Minister on August 17.
Following Mr Siddaramaiah’s petition challenging the order, the High Court took up the matter for hearing on August 19. The Chief Minister has sought that the Governor’s order be scrapped, contending that it is unconstitutional.
