High Court upholds Governor’s nod to prosecute Karnataka CM

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday upheld Governor Thaawarchand’s approval for investigation against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in a site allotment case.

In his judgment, Justice M Nagaprasanna said the order of sanction for prosecution did not suffer from non-application of mind by the Governor.

Site allotment case

The Karnataka Governor had granted sanction to investigate CM Siddaramaiah in the alleged irregularities in the allotment of 14 sites to his wife by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority in a prime locality.

The Chief Minister had challenged the sanction granted by the Governor for an investigation against him in the alleged irregularities in the allotment of 14 sites to his wife by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) in a prime locality.

The Governor on August 16 gave his nod under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and Section 218 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, for the commission of the alleged offences as mentioned in the petitions submitted to him by complainants Pradeep Kumar SP, TJ Abraham and Snehamayi Krishna.

On August 19, Siddaramaiah moved the high court challenging the legality of the order.

Accusing the NDA government of indulging in vendetta politics, Siddaramaiah rejected the opposition’s demand for his resignation.

Alleging conspiracy against him, the CM said he would decide on the next course of action after consulting legal experts.