SC refers BS Yediyurappa's plea in 2011 land denotification case to larger bench

New Delhi [India], April 21 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Monday deferred its verdict over a plea filed by former Karnataka CM and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader BS Yediyurappa, seeking quashing of a corruption case in connection with 2011 land denotification.
A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra ordered the matter to be tagged along with another case, which has been referred to a larger bench of the top court.
The bench was set to pronounce its judgement today after having reserved the same. However, noting that there is another case being reviewed by a larger bench of the top court that involves similar legal issues, this bench deemed it appropriate to tag the present case along with the case already under review.
The case pertained to allegations of corruption against Yediyurappa and others in connection with the 2011 denotification of certain land allotments that had caused losses to the state exchequer.
The top court had heard the matter extensively from both sides. The issue over which most of the discussions took place during the various hearings pertained to whether a government sanction is required as per the Prevention of Corruption Act after a magistrate had ordered a probe under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
In 2021, the Karnataka High Court had allowed the complaint filed against Yediyurappa by ruling that the lack of prior sanction for prosecution (which led to the dismissal of an earlier complaint) did not prevent the filing of a new complaint after the accused had demitted office.
Yediyurappa had challenged the High Court's decision by moving a plea in the Supreme Court. (ANI)