Decision to withdraw nod for CBI probe against D K Shivakumar in corruption case to be placed in court

“We do not know what will happen in the proceedings. We will submit this to the court. We will tell the court about the cabinet decision that was taken within the framework of law. We do not know what the CBI will do or what the court will do. We cannot pre-empt,” Home Minister G Parameshwara said Friday.

The CBI is expected to complete investigations by January 2024.

“When an MLA is accused in a case, there is a rule that the permission of the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly must be obtained to pursue the investigation of the case. This is a rule that exists for all. This was not done (by the previous BJP government). There would not have been any procedural lapses if it had been done. This is what we are trying to correct,” Parameshwara said. “It is not a politically motivated decision. It is the same when it was done by them (BJP) and by us (Congress),” he added.

The cabinet decision to withdraw the sanction accorded to the CBI on September 25, 2019, for investigating Shivakumar comes a little over a month after the Karnataka High Court on October 19, 2023, refused to quash the investigations and directed the CBI to complete the probe that began in 2020 within three months. It also comes seven months after the high court on April 20, 2023, rejected a specific plea by Shivakumar to quash the 2019 sanction.

Shivakumar is accused in a corruption case registered against him in 2020 by the CBI of amassing illegal wealth to the tune of Rs 74 crore when he was a minister in the Congress government in Karnataka between 2013 to 2018.

The cabinet decided to withdraw the sanction in a meeting that was not attended by Shivakumar himself on Thursday evening. The Congress chief is reported to have stayed away on account of the subject of the withdrawal of the sanction in the case against him featuring in the cabinet agenda.

The cabinet made its decision after studying opinions provided by the previous advocate general and the current Advocate General S M Shashikiran Shetty and perusing the fact that the Speaker’s clearance was not obtained as required for MLAs.

“A unilateral decision was taken by the former CM to accord sanction. There was a requirement to obtain the permission of the Speaker of the legislature but this was not done and the CBI had been accorded sanction for investigation,” state Law Minister H K Patil said after the cabinet meeting.

“The opinions of the previous advocate general and the current advocate general in this matter were studied. The Speaker’s permission was not obtained which goes against the law and is illegal and so the decision is not in accordance with law,” Patil added.

“Keeping in view the opinions of the old advocate general and the new advocate general, the decision taken after bypassing and overlooking the Speaker was not in accordance with law,” he said. The law minister said an administrative order for withdrawal of the sanction will be passed in a day or two.

Meanwhile, the BJP leader of opposition in Karnataka, R Ashok, said the cabinet decision was “contempt of court”.