Supreme Court refers BS Yediyurappa land de-notification case to larger bench
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday referred a plea by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa to a larger bench, deferring its verdict in the 2011 land de-notification case.
The Division Bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra noted that the legal questions involved in the matter were already pending before a larger bench in a connected case.
“When we were about to start working [on the judgment], we realised there was another order passed by coordinate bench on 16th April 2024 — Shamin Khan vs. Debashish Chakrabarty and Ors — the very same issues are referred to the larger Bench,” the Bench observed. “We felt propriety demands [that this matter also be referred to same Bench]… In this order also, we have formulated the issues… In the interest of judicial discipline, the coordinate bench of this court has refrained from proceeding further in deciding the underlying issue, which is under reference to a larger bench. We deem it appropriate to tag these petitions with the referred matter.”
The Court directed the Registry to place the matter before the Chief Justice of India for appropriate orders.
The case concerns allegations that government land acquired by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) for establishing a hardware park in Hoovinayakanahalli, Bengaluru North Taluk, was illegally de-notified, causing significant loss to the State exchequer. The original complaint, filed by Alam Pasha, alleged that Yediyurappa, then Deputy Chief Minister in 2006, had abused his position in the de-notification process. The complaint also claimed that service and development charges worth crores were waived.
In 2012, police dropped charges against nine co-accused but named Yediyurappa and then Minister for Large and Medium Scale Industries, Katta Subramanya Naidu. However, a trial court later dismissed the complaint against both leaders due to lack of evidence.
Pasha challenged this dismissal before the Karnataka High Court, which in 2021 set aside the trial court order and directed that charges against Yediyurappa and Naidu be taken cognisance of and the trial be resumed. This High Court decision was subsequently challenged by Yediyurappa in the Supreme Court.
During the hearings, the apex court examined whether prior sanction was required to investigate the alleged offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, particularly after the 2018 amendment mandating sanction even for retired public servants.
The Bench also deliberated on the maintainability of a second complaint, filed just eight days after the first was dismissed, on the sole ground that the latter included a sanction for prosecution. Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra, appearing for Yediyurappa, argued that both complaints were based on identical facts and evidence, and that the High Court had erred by quashing a related 2015 case purely on technical grounds without examining its merits.
In that 2015 case, based on a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, Yediyurappa faced similar allegations of misuse of office. The Karnataka High Court quashed the case in 2023, holding that a coordinate bench had already dealt with related allegations and that a CAG report alone could not serve as a basis for criminal prosecution.
Senior Advocates Vikas Singh and R Basant, along with Additional Advocate General Aman Panwar, appeared for the State of Karnataka.
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FIR filed against three individuals, website for spreading false news involving VB, ‘Op Sindoor’
Mangaluru, May 15: An FIR has been registered at the Mangaluru South Police Station against three individuals and a news website for allegedly spreading false and provocative content involving Kannada daily Vartha Bharati and "Operation Sindoor".
The complaint was lodged by B.M. Basheer, News Editor of Vartha Bharati, who sought legal action against those misusing his name, the name of the newspaper, and "Operation Sindoor" to circulate misleading and defamatory content.
According to the complaint, a Facebook post by Nithin Shamanur titled ‘Operation Sindoor: Kannada Journalist’s brother’s wife Finished’ contained false information and featured a photograph of a woman and soldiers. This same post was allegedly shared by two others — Santosh Hegade and Bettampady Chandra — on their Facebook profiles. In addition, the same content was reportedly published by the website newsputtur.com.
Basheer stated that the news being circulated is completely baseless and inflammatory, and accused the individuals involved of attempting to mislead the public. He warned that such content could spark unrest, especially in the already sensitive environment of coastal Karnataka.
“This baseless and provocative misinformation in the name of ‘Operation Sindoor’ is misleading the public and has the potential to incite unrest in society,” said Basheer in his complaint. “Given the already sensitive atmosphere in coastal Karnataka due to recent developments, such rumors are likely to further destabilize the situation.”
He demanded strict legal action against Nithin Shamanur, Santosh Hegade, Bettampady Chandra, and the editor of newsputtur.com, including registration of a criminal case and a thorough investigation into the matter.
Acting on the complaint, the Mangaluru South Police have registered an FIR against all four accused under relevant sections for allegedly spreading false, defamatory, and inflammatory content online. Further investigation is underway.
