The Karnataka High Court on Friday directed the State government to explain the delay in granting permission to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate allegations of committing offences against two public servants under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act in the cases against IMA Group of companies.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice S.R. Krishna Kumar issued the directions after the CBI, in its status report, informed that the government granted sanction for investigating only one of the three public servants for whom sanction was sought in September.
Terming the delay on the part of the government as a ‘disturbing feature’, the bench directed the government to file an affidavit through an officer not below the rank of a secretary explaining the reasons for the delay.
Prasanna Kumar P., Special public Prosecutor for CBI, told the court that the sanction of the government is required under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
66 other cases
Meanwhile, the bench directed the government to submit reports on the investigation carried out so far in the 66 criminal cases registered against several companies, other than the IMA Group of companies, on complaints of cheating under Ponzi scheme. The bench issued the direction after going through a chart, submitted by the police providing details of names of companies, number of cases registered against them in various police stations, name of the accused and offences alleged against them.
The bench also directed the Secretary of the Revenue Department to file an affidavit explaining the inaction in not providing information to the court, as per earlier orders, on whether competent authorities were appointed under the Karnataka Protection of Interest of Depositors (KPID) in Financial Establishments Act, 2004, in relation to complaints received against companies other than the IMA Group.
Also, the bench asked the secretary to explain whether any action was initiated against the deputy commissioners or assistant commissioners for not acting under the KPID Act despite receipt of complaints.
