New Delhi: The Supreme Court has refused to quash a corruption case against union minister H.D. Kumaraswamy in a land de-notification case during his tenure as the Chief Minister of Karnataka.
Kumaraswamy, a leader of the JD (S), is a member of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and is presently the union minister for heavy industries and steel.
A bench of Justices Dipankar Dutta and Rajesh Bindal found no merit in Kumaraswamy’s plea seeking immunity under the 2018 amendment to the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and cleared the way for trial to proceed, reported Bar and Bench.
The bench rejected Kumaraswamy’s argument that the prosecution required sanction and held that a subsequent amendment to the act cannot be applied retrospectively.
The case relates to the de-notification of 2 acres and 24 guntas of land in Halagi Vaderahalli Village, Banashankari, which was acquired by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) in 1997.
In 2007, when he was the Chief Minister of Karnataka, Kumaraswamy ordered the de-notification of the land, despite objections from the BDA. Thereafter, it was sold to private parties for Rs. 4.14 crore in 2010.
Earlier, the Karnataka high court had in 2015 dismissed Kumaraswamy’s plea to quash the FIR.
