Justice Surya Kant's bench to hear CBI, BJP MLA pleas against Karnataka deputy CM: SC
New Delhi, Sep 22 (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday said a bench led by Justice Surya Kant would hear pleas challenging Karnataka's decision to withdraw consent to investigate a disproportionate assets case against Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.
A bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran noted that the pleas were earlier dealt by another bench headed by Justice Surya Kant.
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the Congress leader, said the CJI earlier said that political scores should be settled elsewhere and not in courts.
The CJI said that it would be in the best interest of justice, if the pleas are heard by another bench and directed that they be listed before Justice Surya Kant-led bench.
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In October last year, the CBI moved the top court against the state government's decision to withdraw its consent to the probe agency for investigating the DA case against Shivakumar.
Notices were issued on the plea of the probe agency.
BJP leader Basanagouda R Patil Yatnal also moved the top court on the issue.
The apex court sought responses from Shivakumar and the state government.
On September 17, last year, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan had issued notices to Shivakumar and the state government on the plea filed by Patil.
The current Karnataka cabinet headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on November 23, 2023, held the previous BJP government's 2019 move to give consent to the CBI to investigate the DA case against Shivakumar was not in accordance with law and decided to withdraw the sanction as a result.
The Karnataka High Court held as "non-maintainable" a petition filed by the CBI and a BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal challenging the Congress government's decision to withdraw the consent.
On August 29, last year, the high court had dismissed the plea, which also challenged the state government's December 26, 2023 order referring the Rs 74.93 crore DA case to the Lokayukta for investigation.
The CBI had alleged that Shivakumar amassed assets disproportionate to his known sources of income between 2013 and 2018. He was a minister in the previous Congress government during this period.
The CBI registered a DA case against Shivakumar on October 3, 2020, based on the consent given by the BJP government on September 25, 2019, following a reference by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to investigate corruption charges emerging from an income tax investigation.
The then BJP government subsequently granted sanction to the CBI to prosecute Shivakumar.
The politician was arrested by the ED in September 2019 on the basis of alleged money-laundering charges stemming from an Income-Tax department investigation against him between 2017 and 2019. He was released on bail in the ED case in October, 2019.
The top court quashed the money laundering case against Shivakumar saying it must be linked to the scheduled offence.
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Om Birla attends swearing-in of new B'desh PM, says India stands ready to support BNP govt
New Delhi (PTI): Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday attended the swearing-in ceremony of new Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in Dhaka, and said India stands ready to support Bangladesh's endeavours to build a democratic, progressive and inclusive nation.
Separately, the speaker called on the new Bangladesh prime minister and conveyed the wishes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He also handed over an invitation from Prime Minister Modi to Rahman to visit India, officials said here.
“Glad to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new government of Bangladesh led by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in Dhaka today. India stands ready to support Bangladesh’s endeavours to build a democratic, progressive and inclusive nation,” Birla posted on X.
Bangladesh High Commissioner to India, Riaz Hamidullah, said in a post on X, “Prime Minister Tarique Rahman conveys his greetings to India and PM Narendra Modi to the visiting India Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla at a courtesy meet following the swearing-in of the new government.
“Speaker Birla conveyed wishes and an invitation to India. Both leaders expressed optimism to work together for the well-being of the people of Bangladesh and India, pursuing a people-centric menu of cooperation.”
Birla also met Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay and other leaders on the sidelines of the event.
Led by Rahman, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) swept to power with a two-thirds majority with 49.97 per cent votes and 209 seats in the polls held on February 12, results for which were declared on February 13.
The Jamaat-e-Islami, which was opposed to Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan in 1971, registered its best-ever performance with 31.76 per cent votes and 68 seats.
The National Citizen Party (NCP) secured the third-highest number of seats, six, and 3.05 per cent votes.
Bangladesh had invited Narendra Modi to the ceremony, but the prime minister could not attend the event as he was scheduled to hold talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Mumbai on Tuesday.
On reaching Dhaka, Birla said the swearing-in of Rahman was an important moment that would strengthen people-to-people relations and shared democratic values between the two neighbours.
“Honoured to be in Dhaka representing India at the swearing-in ceremony of the new government led by Tarique Rahman as the prime minister. It's an important moment that will strengthen people-to-people ties and shared democratic values between our two nations,” Birla said.
Birla was accompanied by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and other officials.
