Yatnal approaches HC again against withdrawal of Govt sanction to prosecute Shivakumar

Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of a petition by BJP leader and MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal challenging the State Cabinet decision to withdraw the sanction accorded to the CBI to prosecute deputy Chief Minister and Congress leader DK Shivakumar.

The bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna said it would first decide on the maintainability of the petition before going into its merits.

Yatnal had earlier filed an intervening application in the appeal filed by Shivakumar challenging the sanction.

Shivakumar had withdrawn the appeal on November 29 following the withdrawal of sanction by the Government. Yatnal then filed a petition which was mentioned before the single judge bench on Wednesday. The Court questioned the maintainability of such a petition by a person who is not party to the case.

Challenging the November 28 order of the Government withdrawing consent, the petition states that the ‘Impugned order is highly illegal and not even worth the paper on which it is printed because such executive order is directly in conflict with law of the land as declared by Apex Court.’

Based on the Income Tax Department raids and Enforcement Directorate’s probe, the CBI sought sanction from the State Government to file an FIR against Shivakumar which was granted by the then BJP government on September 25, 2019.

The sanction was withdrawn by the Congress government, which came to power in May this year, on November 28, 2023.