In a setback for the BS Yediyurappa-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state government, the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday (January 5) refused to dismiss the criminal proceedings pending against the Chief Minister.
The High Court on this day dismissed two petitions seeking to quash the criminal proceedings pending against him under The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
The case pertains to a complaint filed against Yediyurappa stating that when he was the Deputy Chief Minister during 2006-07, he had ordered the illegal deletion of several acres of land notified for IT parks in and around Bellandur and Devarabisanahalli.
The Karnataka High Court had ruled for a probe and rejected his plea for a denotification back in December last year. This paves the way for an investigation in the land case and a report to be submitted over the same "at the earliest", according to the court ruling.
The court order comes at a time when the BJP central leadership has just reaffirmed its faith in Yediyurappa, amid rumours of the Chief Minister being replaced ahead of the 2023 state assembly polls.
The complainant, Vasudeva Reddy, had stated that Yeddyurappa ordered the denotification of four acres 30 guntas and following the denotification, the lands were diverted for residential purpose.
Karnataka Rashtra Samiti president Ravi Krishna Reddy had said the CM should resign to facilitate a fair probe.
