Supreme Court stays Karnataka High Court order against Siddaramaiah, others

New Delhi, February 19

The Supreme Court on Monday stayed a Karnataka High Court order which dismissed Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s petition seeking to quash an FIR lodged against him and others for allegedly ‘blocking roads and causing trouble to commuters’ in connection with a 2022 protest.

A Bench led by Justice Hrishikesh Roy issued a notice to the Karnataka Government and the complainant in the case. The Bench also stayed the high court order imposing a fine of Rs 10,000 on him as well as Congress general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala, state ministers MB Patil and Ramalinga Reddy, and directing him to appear before a special court on March 6.

Siddaramaiah had challenged the February 6 order of the high court, directing him to appear before a special court on March 6. The high court had also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on him as well as Surjewala, Patil and Reddy.

The protest march organised to lay siege to the then Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s residence in Bengaluru, demanding the resignation of the then Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister KS Eshwarappa after a contractor, Santosh Patil, died by suicide accusing Eshwarappa of demanding 40 per cent commission on a public work in his village.