Disproportionate assets case against Deputy CM DK Shivakumar: Karnataka HC adjourns matter to Feb 12

Apart from the quashing, the CBI has also sought an interim stay on the two government orders.

The CBI case along with a similar petition filed by BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal was initially posted before a single judge bench of the high court but was referred on January 5, 2024, by the single judge to the Chief Justice of Karnataka to assign to an appropriate larger bench due to the involvement of serious legal issues in the matter.

The matter has now been assigned to a division bench comprising Justices K Somashekhar and Umesh Adiga for hearing. The new bench took up the case for the first time on Wednesday and asked for copies of the petition to be served to the state Lokayukta police.

The CBI registered a DA case against Shivakumar on October 3, 2020, based on consent given by the previous BJP government on September 25, 2019, following a reference by the Directorate of Enforcement to corruption charges that emerged after an Income Tax probe.

The Congress government, which replaced the BJP in Karnataka in May 2023, withdrew the consent given in 2019 to the CBI after a cabinet decision on November 23, 2023. The Congress has stated that the case was referred to the CBI in 2019 even before the FIR was registered in 2020.

The CBI and a BJP MLA have approached the Karnataka High Court over the move of the Congress government to withdraw consent and have referred to Supreme Court orders where CBI investigations have been allowed to continue after withdrawal of state consent.

The CBI and the BJP MLA have cited the Supreme Court ruling in the Khazi Lhendup Dorji vs CBI case from 1994 where the apex court ruled that the revocation of consent for a CBI probe would not affect cases where investigations are already underway.

Earlier hearing

In an earlier hearing on January 5, a single judge bench of the high court had taken up the CBI plea against withdrawal of consent by the state using its powers under Section 21 of the Mysore General Clauses Act, 1899, and the reference of the case to the Lokayukta Police.

“Very many issues of seminal importance have been canvassed before the court pressing into service an avalanche of decisions,” the single judge bench of Krishna S Dixit observed.

The single judge referred the matter to the chief justice “for considering as to whether these petitions deserve to be heard and decided by a Division Bench or such other Bench so that once for all the matter can be put to rest after declaring the correct position of law”.

The court also barred the Lokayukta police from commencing investigations until the matter is settled. “This court being a Special Court has noted the submission of learned advocates appearing for the petitioners that till after a decision is taken in the matter, the Lokayukta Police shall not commence the investigation,” the court noted.

Although the Karnataka government asked for an order where the CBI is also asked to halt the investigation, the high court said “this aspect is left to the consideration” of the new bench.

Case history

The CBI filed an FIR in October 2020 (after obtaining the sanction from the B S Yediyurappa-led BJP government on September 25, 2019) against Shivakumar on charges of corruption, based on the findings of income-tax department searches carried out in August 2017 at around 70 premises linked to the Congress leader.

The CBI has alleged that Shivakumar amassed Rs 74.93 crore of wealth disproportionate to known sources of income from April 2013 to April 2018, when he was the energy minister in a Congress-led Karnataka government.

On April 20, 2023, a single judge of the Karnataka High Court rejected a plea by Shivakumar for quashing the sanction given on September 25, 2019, by the BJP government for investigations on the grounds that the state had only given its consent and not a formal sanction.

On October 19, 2023, the high court also rejected a plea by Shivakumar for quashing the entire CBI case against him and gave the CBI three months to complete the investigations. The Karnataka cabinet decided on November 23, 2023, to withdraw the sanction for investigation by the CBI.

Shivakumar was arrested by the ED in September 2019 and was released on bail in October 2019.

The ED wrote to the Karnataka BJP government in 2019 to look at the possibility of corruption in the money laundering case against Shivakumar by ordering a CBI probe.

Shivakumar’s comments

“The CBI is entitled to approach the High Court. They will present their case and we will present our case. It is the court which will eventually decide. I have complete faith in our judicial system,” the Karnataka DCM said after the CBI moved the Karnataka High Court earlier this month.

“There is not even a single case registered against me. The case was handed over to the CBI only to harass me. The current government has taken a decision to withdraw that permission and has handed over the case to the Lokayukta,” he said.