DKS cabinet withdrawal: Yatnal approaches HC again

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of a petition by BJP leader and MLA Basanagouda Patil (Yatnal) challenging the State Cabinet decision to withdraw the sanction accorded to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to prosecute deputy chief minister and Congress leader DK Shivakumar.

The High Court bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna said it would first decide on the maintainability of the petition before going into its merits. Yatnal had earlier filed an intervening application in the appeal filed by DK Shivakumar challenging the sanction.

DK Shivakumar had withdrawn the appeal on November 29 following the Government withdrawing the sanction.

Yatnal then filed a petition which was mentioned before the single judge bench on Wednesday. The Court questioned the maintainability of such a petition by a person who is not party to the case.

Challenging the November 28 order of the Government withdrawing consent, the petition states that the “Impugned order is highly illegal and not even worth the paper on which it is printed because such executive order is directly in conflict with law of the land as declared by Apex Court.”

Based on the Income Tax Department raids and Enforcement Directorate’s probe, the CBI sought sanction from the State Government to file an FIR against DK Shivakumar which was granted on September 25, 2019.

Following the change of government, the sanction was withdrawn on November 28, 2023.