Supreme Court defers verdict on Yediyurappa’s appeal, refers case to larger bench
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The Supreme Court on Monday chose not to deliver a verdict on former Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa’s appeal against prosecution in a land denotification case, citing the need to maintain judicial propriety.
The court noted that the legal questions raised in his case are already being examined by a larger bench in a separate but related matter.
The bench comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra decided to tag Yediyurappa’s plea with the ongoing case Manju Surana vs. Sunil Arora and Others, which is currently pending before a larger bench.
The judges emphasised the importance of consistency and discipline in judicial proceedings, particularly when similar legal issues are already under broader review.
Yediyurappa’s appeal centers on whether prior sanction under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act is mandatory before prosecuting public officials. Although the bench had previously reserved its judgement on this and other related cases on April 10, they reconsidered after realising that another coordinate bench had recently referred the same issue to a larger bench in the Shamim Khan vs. Debashish Chakrabarty and Others case.
Justice Pardiwala explained, “As we began drafting our judgement, we discovered that the same legal question was referred to a larger bench just last week. In the interest of judicial discipline and propriety, we believe this case too should be placed before the larger bench.”
The bench formally directed the court registry to bring the matter to the attention of the Chief Justice of India for appropriate action. Justice Pardiwala added that the court had also clearly framed the legal issues involved in their order.
Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Yediyurappa, acknowledged the oversight in not informing the court about the earlier referral and expressed regret.
The case dates back to 2006, when Yediyurappa, serving as deputy chief minister, allegedly denotified land in Bengaluru North taluk - originally acquired by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board for a hardware park - causing alleged financial loss to the state.