BDA withdraws ‘controversial’ note

The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) on Tuesday told the Karnataka High Court that it has withdrawn the office note, through which it had asked its staff not to hand over records or participate, without prior permission of the Commissioner, in the investigations conducted by agencies like Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB).

Following this submission, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice S. Vishwajith Shetty disposed of the petition, which had questioned the legality of the controversial office note issued by the BDA Commissioner on July 8, 2020.

Missing files

The Commissioner had contended that the note was not intended to interfere with investigations by agencies like the ACB, but to make the authority’s staff accountable as many important files had gone missing from the office, affecting the functioning of the BDA, and the staff claiming that files were submitted to investigation officers of the ACB and the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force.

During an earlier hearing, the bench had pulled up the BDA while pointing out that the manner in which the note was worded prima facie amounts to interference in investigations by statutory agencies like the ACB.