The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday dismissed Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s plea challenging the governor’s sanction to prosecute him in connection with alleged MUDA scam. The Court upheld governor’s sanction and observed the allegations need to be probed.
Hearing the Congress leader’s plea, Justice M. Nagaprasanna observed, "The facts narrated in the petition need investigation. The petition stands dismissed," Live Law reported. Siddaramaiah in his plea sought quashing of order issued by Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot, granting sanction to prosecute the CM in the alleged Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam.
The HC observed the three private complainants were justified him registering their complaint and seeking approval from the governor for prosecuting the CM.
The governor, in a six-page letter issued in August, accorded sanction to prosecute Siddaramaiah under section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Section 218 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 for the commission of offences as mentioned in the petitions of social activist T.J. Abraham, Pradeep Kumar S.P, and Snehamayi Krishna.
In the MUDA 'scam', it is alleged that compensatory sites were allotted to Siddaramaiah's wife Parvathi in an upmarket area in Mysuru, which had higher property value as compared to the location of her land which had been "acquired" by the MUDA, PTI reported. The MUDA had allotted plots to Parvathi under a 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of 3.16 acres of her land, where MUDA developed a residential layout.
Under the controversial scheme, MUDA allotted 50 per cent of developed land to the land losers in lieu of undeveloped land acquired from them for forming residential layouts. The opposition has claimed that the MUDA scam is of the magnitude of Rs 4,000 crore to Rs 5,000 crore.