A special court in Karnataka has suspended proceedings in private complaints seeking a Lokayukta police investigation into two government land allotments to the Siddhartha Vihar Trust, associated with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s family. The court has scheduled the next hearing for November 18.
The special court for elected representatives took the decision on Saturday after the state public prosecutor informed it that the Karnataka High Court had stayed further proceedings in the matter.
The development follows an October 16 order by Justice M Nagaprasanna of the Karnataka High Court recalling an earlier direction that required the special court to reconsider whether a police investigation should be ordered.
The High Court is scheduled to take up the matter again on Monday afternoon.
High Court Recalls Order Over Lack of Hearing
The October 16 order came on an application by Rahul Kharge, son of Mallikarjun Kharge and a trustee of Siddhartha Vihar Trust, who argued that the trust had neither received notice nor been given an opportunity to present its case before the High Court issued its August 18 direction.
Rahul Kharge submitted that he had been denied an opportunity to appear and address the legal and procedural questions involved in the criminal petition.
Referring to Supreme Court precedents concerning Section 362 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), the High Court held that restrictions on recalling judicial orders are not absolute where principles of natural justice have been violated.
Complaints Concern Two Government Land Allotments
Anti-corruption activist Vijayaraghav Marathe filed the private complaints seeking an investigation under the Prevention of Corruption Act into separate allotments made in 2010 and 2014.
The first concerns an 8,001-square-metre civic amenity site in BTM IV Stage, Bengaluru, allotted by the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) in 2010 during the BJP government led by B S Yediyurappa.
The land was allotted for Rs 1 crore at a 50 per cent concession for an educational institution intended to serve Scheduled Caste (SC) welfare. Its present value is estimated at more than Rs 10 crore.
Marathe alleges that the property was not used for its designated purpose.
The allotment is also subject to a separate legal dispute. In 2021, the Karnataka High Court set aside the original land acquisition, although the trust subsequently secured a stay concerning its particular plot.
The second complaint relates to five acres of civic amenity land allotted in 2014 by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) under the SC quota at a hi-tech defence aerospace park near Bengaluru.
That allotment took place during the Congress government headed by Siddaramaiah.
Following allegations of nepotism and conflict of interest raised by the BJP, Congress minister Priyank Kharge stated that the trust had voluntarily surrendered the five-acre property in August 2024.
Earlier Direction for Reconsideration of Police Probe
On August 11, the special court had opted to conduct its own inquiry instead of directing a police investigation, citing procedural deficiencies in the complaint, including the absence of a required legal affidavit.
Marathe challenged that decision before the Karnataka High Court.
On August 18, the High Court directed the special court to address the procedural shortcomings and reconsider the request for a Lokayukta police investigation.
Acting on that direction, the special court sought a response from the state Lokayukta police on September 18.
However, the High Court’s subsequent recall of its August 18 order has brought the proceedings before the special court to a halt pending further consideration.
