The Supreme Court on Monday remarked that it is not powerless to annul proceedings pending before Karnataka Lokayukta against Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister, D.K. Shivakumar, in a Disproportionate Assets (DA) case. A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan observed that it was not bound to accept the fait accompli after BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal’s counsel contended that the Lokayukta will likely file a closure report favouring Shivakumar. The Justice Kant-led Bench also declined to pass any interim order staying the ongoing proceedings before the Lokayukta and posted the matter for further hearing in January next year. In the meantime, it asked the Karnataka government to respond to the Special Leave Petitions filed by BJP MLA Yatnal as well as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) questioning the Congress government’s decision to withdraw consent for a CBI probe. In November last year, the state Cabinet took a decision to withdraw consent for the CBI probe accorded by the previous BJP government. (IANS)
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