Persuade HC to lift stay on Yeddyurappa probe, SC tells Karnataka

Declining to interfere, for now, with the Karnataka High Court order staying investigation against former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa in the three cases relating to the denotification of lands in and around Bengaluru, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the state government to go back and persuade the high court to lift its stay order.

"We will simply adjourn it today and see what happens there" on Tuesday, said a bench of Justice J.Chelameswar and Justice Abhay Mahonar Sapre asking the Karnataka government to impress upon the high court to lift the stay of investigation against Yeddyurappa.

The high court is likely to hear the matter on Tuesday as matter is listed for December 1.

The Karnataka Lokayukta police have filed three alleged graft cases against Yeddyurappa for freeing from government control prime land in and around the Bengaluru during his tenure (2008-11) allegedly in breach of norms.

The first information reports has been registered against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act on a complaint by social activist Jayakumar Hiremath, based on the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on the matter.

The CAG report on "Denotification of lands by government and allotment of sites by BDA" was tabled in the Karnataka assembly in 2012 when the Bharatiya Janata Party was ruling the state.

Seeking vacation of the high court's September 15 order putting on hold the investigations, the Karnataka government in three separate petitions have contended that it should not have stayed the investigations as they were in pursuance to the complaints based on CAG report which highlighted the "misuse of authority with a corrupt motive thereby causing heavy loss to the state exchequer".

"The stay of investigation, which had just begun, has resulted in the miscarriage of justice," the state government had contended.