Big relief for BS Yediyurappa, Supreme Court stays corruption case proceedings against Karnataka CM

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa got a major reprieve from the Supreme Court today in a corruption case with the apex court staying the order issued by the Karnataka High Court which directed a trial court to initiate proceedings against the Karnataka Chief Minister in a corruption case in which he is accused of allegedly denotifying some land to benefit private parties.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde was hearing the appeal filed by the Chief Minister against the high court order. Earlier, Karnataka High Court had rejected Yediyurappa’s plea seeking quashing of the criminal case and its proceedings against him. The Karnataka High Court had directed the special trial court to take cognisance of offences against Yediyurappa and proceed further in the matter based on the charge sheet filed by the Lokayukta Police in 2012. The high court order came after a Bengaluru man Alam Pasha had questioned the special court’s 2016 decision order dropping the case against Yediyurappa.

The case pertains to a private complaint against BS Yediyurappa which alleged that during his tenure as the Chief Minister between 2008-12, he illegally de-notified 20 acres from land acquisition proceedings to give undue favours to private parties.

The charge sheet in the case was filed by the Karnataka Lokayukta. It had accused Yediyurappa of abusing his position as the Chief Minister to illegally cancel the acquisition of land by the government for industrial purposes. The land in question was acquired by the state-run Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board in 2006 to set up a hardware park in Bengaluru.