A PIL petition seeking direction from the High Court of Karnataka for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the corruption allegedly involving Ashwin Y., son of Lokayukta Y. Bhaskar Rao, will now be heard by the same Division Bench that is hearing Mr. Ashwin’s plea.
The Division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice B.V. Nagarathna, before which the PIL came up for hearing on Monday, said that “to avoid conflicting judicial opinion” the PIL would be heard by the division bench comprising Justice N. Kumar and Justice B. Srinivase Gowda, which is hearing Mr. Ashwin’s petition.
Earlier, K.V. Dhananjay, counsel for the petitioners — Samaj Parivartana Samudaya and three others — had claimed that the FIR registered against Mr. Ashwin by the Lokayukta police on July 1 was still in “dormant” state.
The counsel also contended that no police officer from the State can probe the case as all of them come under the jurisdiction of the Lokayukta and it would be difficult to expect a “fair” probe.
Four Cabinet Ministers in the present State government are facing a probe by the Lokayukta and hence it cannot expect a “fair” investigation at the hands of the State government.
However, Additional Advocate-General A.S. Ponnanna, questioning the locus standi of the petitioners to seek CBI probe when the FIR was registered based on a complaint of an officer of the State, said the FIR was registered based on the Upalokayukta’s direction, which was questioned by Mr. Ashwin.
The PIL, if at all to be heard, will have to be heard by the same Bench that had on July 1 prohibited both the Lokayukta and the Upalokayukta from ordering an in-house probe and asked them to wait for the State-constituted SIT report.
But Mr. Dhananjay said the Division Bench, before which Mr. Ashwin’s petition is pending, was examining only the orders passed by the Lokayukta and the Upalokayukta, and the FIR was not an issue before that Bench.
Both the petitions will now come up for hearing on Tuesday.
