Bengaluru, Nov 6: The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of a petition by BJP leader and MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal challenging the State Cabinet decision to withdraw the sanction accorded to the CBI to prosecute deputy Chief Minister and Congress leader DK Shivakumar.

The bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna said it would first decide on the maintainability of the petition before going into its merits.

Yatnal had earlier filed an intervening application in the appeal filed by Shivakumar challenging the sanction.

Shivakumar had withdrawn the appeal on November 29 following the withdrawal of sanction by the Government. Yatnal then filed a petition which was mentioned before the single judge bench on Wednesday. The Court questioned the maintainability of such a petition by a person who is not party to the case.

Challenging the November 28 order of the Government withdrawing consent, the petition states that the "Impugned order is highly illegal and not even worth the paper on which it is printed because such executive order is directly in conflict with law of the land as declared by Apex Court.".

Based on the Income Tax Department raids and Enforcement Directorate's probe, the CBI sought sanction from the State Government to file an FIR against Shivakumar which was granted by the then BJP government on September 25, 2019.

The sanction was withdrawn by the Congress government, which came to power in May this year, on November 28, 2023.

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Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.

Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.

Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.

An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.

The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.

A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.

Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."

"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.

"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.

A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.