All eyes on K'taka HC verdict on CM Siddu plea today

NT Correspondent Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court (HC) will announce its verdict on Tuesday on the petition filed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah challenging the grant of sanction against him by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot in the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) case. On September 12, Justice M Nagaprasanna had reserved the judgement in the case.

The issue cropped up on August 17 when Gehlot had permitted the framing of charges against Siddaramaiah under Section 17 A of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 218 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) in reply to three applications by Right To Information (RTI) activists. Siddaramaiah then filed a plea in the HC on August 19, arguing that sanction was granted on flimsy grounds despite the State Cabinet advising Gehlot to not do so.

Compensatory sites cause flutter

The case refers to the CM’s wife Parvati BM allegedly receiving sites of far greater value in lieu of the land she purportedly lost to MUDA in Kesare village on the outskirts of Mysuru city back in 2014. In 2022, she received 14 plots in compensation in Vijayanagar locality of Mysuru, allegedly of higher value, causing a loss of more than Rs 40 crore to MUDA.

The Opposition also alleged that the land didn’t really belong to Parvati since it was acquired under suspicious circumstances. The Leader of Opposition (LOP) in the Assembly R Ashoka alleged that the scam cost MUDA over Rs 3,800 crores. He argued that other prominent persons also received compensatory sites of greater value under the 50:50 scheme.