Initially the bench appeared to be in favour of reviving the matter. But when told that the NGO had only sought to intervene in the matter and was not a party to the proceedings, the court simply adjourned it without passing any order. (File Photo)The Supreme Court on Friday raised questions on withdrawal of an appeal against a Bangalore High Court order that quashed complaints in a land denotification matter, allegedly pertaining to the period when BJP leader B S Yediyurappa was the chief minister of Karnataka.
It was alleged that the denotification stood to benefit Congress leader D K Shivakumar, who was said to have owned it. “Propriety demands it should not have been withdrawn,” Justice Arun Mishra, sitting with Justice M R Shah, said. The two leaders opposed the locus standi of an NGO which had approached the court seeking reopening of the hearing.
Justice Mishra added that the Karnataka Lokayukta should have approached it in the issue. The matter was initially before the Lokayukta before it was quashed by the High Court.
Appearing for the NGO, Samaj Parivartan Samuday, Advocate Prashant Bhushan said the apex court had allowed the appeal against the HC order to be withdrawn on an oral mentioning by another counsel, and he had no knowledge of it. Bhushan said he had filed the intervention after coming to know that there was a likelihood of the petitioner withdrawing his plea.
This prompted the court to ask, “How can it be withdrawn behind his (Bhushan’s) back?” Bhushan said the issue “proves bipartisan consensus on corruption”.
Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Yeddyurappa and Shivakumar, respectively, questioned the locus standi of the NGO in the matter.
They told the bench that the appeal against the HC order was withdrawn by the appellant, Kabbale Gowda, in February and that someone unrelated to the matter was now seeking to reopen it. They said Bhushan had argued the case while it was pending, and now that it has been withdrawn, he is again seeking to reopen it through another petitioner.
Initially the bench appeared to be in favour of reviving the matter. But when told that the NGO had only sought to intervene in the matter and was not a party to the proceedings, the court simply adjourned it without passing any order.
Justice Mishra said the court will look into it and take a call on whether such intervention is possible.
The matter dates back to the denotification of 4.20 acres of land which was acquired by Bangalore Development Authority (BDA). Shivakumar allegedly purchased this from a third person in 2003, when he was the state Urban Development minister. Later, this land was denotified when Yeddyurappa was the chief minister. A complaint was filed regarding this in the Lokayukta, which was later quashed by the HC.
