In a setback to M. Lakshminarayana, former Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike Commissioner, the High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday quashed the “clean chit” given to him, by the Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) of the Urban Development Department, on an allegation that he misused his office to grant a trade licence to an eatery.
A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice P.S. Dinesh Kumar, passed the order while partly allowing a PIL petition, filed in 2016 by the Namma Bengaluru Foundation, which had questioned the September 29, 2016 order by Mahendra Jain, ASC.
The ASC had rejected a representation by the foundation seeking permission for prosecuting Mr. Lakshminarayana for his alleged misuse of power when he was BBMP Commissioner in 2014. Mr. Lakshminarayana retired from service a couple of months ago.
The Bench noted that the ACS first came to the conclusion that he had no power to grant sanction to prosecute Mr. Lakshminarayana, who was an officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), as it is the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms of the State government, which had the power to do so.
However, the Bench pointed out that the ACS then gave a finding that the acts of Mr. Lakshminarayana, in making notes on files favourable to the eatery, could be a mere “lack of administrative prudence” but “there is no material evidence to establish quid pro quo or a malafide intention warranting criminal prosecution...”
After admitting a lack of power to consider the representation to grant sanction for prosecution, the ASC had no power to consider the allegations against Mr. Lakshminarayana and give a finding on its merits , the Bench said.
Meanwhile, the Court gave liberty to the foundation to submit a representation to the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms seeking sanction for prosecution while asking the State to consider such representation in accordance with the law.