The Supreme Court refuses to intervene in the case of corruption against HD Kumaraswamy

Minister of Major Industries of the HD Kumaraswamy Union. File | Photo credit: the Hindu

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (February 25, 2025) refused to intervene in a case that accuses the Minister of the HD Kumaraswamy Union industries misuse of his position as the main minister of Karnataka by pecuniary profits and illegally denying two Earth plots that measure more than two acres in breath. Vadehali Village in 2007.

“Why did you suddenly do this denotification … It has to be investigated … there may be no bad intentions, but it must be investigated,” Judge Dipankar Datta, heading a bank that comprises Judge Rajesh Bindal, addressed the Senior Mukul Rohatgi lawyer and lawyer Balaji. Srinivasan, which appears for Mr. Kumaraswamy.

The plots in question were acquired from the owner and possession delivered to the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) in September 1999.

Subsequently, according to the State, the owner executed sales deeds in favor of third parties in contravention of the Land Law of Karnataka (Restriction in the transfer) of 1991. After which the owner had given a representation to the main minister to denotify The Earth. The request was strongly objected by the BDA in a communication in December 2005.

The case of the State was that Mr. Kumaraswamy allegedly used his powers as the main minister to issue a denotification order on October 1, 2007 without making the application before the dis-notification committee.

Private complaint

There was a private complaint and a special judge who tried cases against parliamentarians and MLA ordered that he be investigated by the Lokayukta police in 2012 under several provisions of the Criminal Code of India, the Law on the Prevention of Corruption and the Land Law of karnataka (restriction of the transfer).

Mr. Kumarswamy’s challenge against the case was dismissed by both the State Superior Court and the Apex court in 2016.

However, a closing report on the case was presented, by the way, when Mr. Kumaraswamy returned as the main minister in 2018. However, the special judge had rejected the closing report and summoned it in 2019.

He had also challenged the call in the Superior Court, which had indicated that the charges against him were serious and found no land to interfere. This led to Mr. Kumaraswamy to approach the Supreme Court mainly because it was a public servant and that the trial could not proceed without a valid sanction to process it.

On Tuesday, Mr. Rohatgi said that an amendment to the Corruption Prevention Law in 2018 protected him from prosecution and that the case should be annulled.

Judge Datta said the sanction requirement was to protect public servants entangled in frivolous complaints. Judge Bindal said the closing report in the case was presented when Mr. Kumaraswamy became Prime Minister for the second time.

“He is a former prime minister. He cannot escape by saying that denotification was a mistake and everything else was a mistake, ”said Judge Datta in a moment.

The main lawyer Harin Rawal together with the additional defender of Karnataka, the general, Aman Panwar, argued that the protection of the sanction to Mr. Kumarswamy should not be extended, since he has stopped occupying the position of main minister. They also argued that the 2018 amendment cannot be used to seek protection of the crime committed before it entered into force.