The Supreme Court of India, on Tuesday, dismissed a plea by former Karnataka Chief Minister and current Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy, seeking to quash the proceedings in a corruption case tied to the de-notification of two land plots. The bench, comprising Justices Dipankar Datta and Rajesh Bindal, upheld a previous order from the Karnataka High Court dated October 9, 2020, which had also refused to quash the proceedings against him.
The corruption case stems from a private complaint by M S Mahadeva Swamy before a special judge under the Prevention of Corruption Act in Bengaluru. The complaint alleges that Kumaraswamy de-notified two plots of land in Halagevaderahalli Village, Uttarahalli Hobli, Bengaluru South Taluk for personal gain during his tenure as chief minister from June 2006 to October 2007.
Senior advocate Harin Raval and Additional Advocate General Aman Panwar represented the state of Karnataka and opposed Kumaraswamy’s plea in the apex court. On January 18, 2021, the Supreme Court had issued a notice to both the complainant and the Karnataka government regarding Kumaraswamy’s appeal, which questioned the necessity of a sanction for prosecution due to an amendment in section 19(1)(b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act in 2018. His counsel argued that cognizance of the case should not have been taken without the requisite sanction, even though he was not in office when the case was registered.
However, the Karnataka High Court had previously determined that there were ample materials to proceed against Kumaraswamy for the alleged offenses. It also ruled that there was no evidence suggesting that the proceedings were an abuse of court process or resulted in a failure of justice, thus negating the need to quash them. Furthermore, the high court noted that based on the nature of the allegations and the specifics of the case, no prior sanction under section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code or Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act was necessary.
