Sept 24,2024: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah against an approval granted by Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot to three private individuals to file cases of corruption against him over a land grant to his wife by the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA).
Justice M Nagaprasanna ruled that the Governor’s August 16 order to grant sanction for filing of cases against Siddaramaiah does not suffer from lack of application of mind. The high court pointed out that the reasons for granting the sanction had been detailed in the files of the Governor and did not have to be brought into the final sanction order.
“No fault can be found with the Governor exercising independent discretion to pass the impugned order. It would suffice if the reasons were recorded in the file of the decision-making authority particularly of the high office and those reasons succinctly formed part of the impugned order. A caveat is that reasons must be in the file,” Justice Nagaprasanna said in a summary of findings while dismissing Siddaramaiah’s petition.
“Reasons for the first time cannot be brought before the constitutional court by way of objections. The gubernatorial order nowhere suffers from the want of application of mind. It is not a case of not even a semblance of application of mind by the Governor but the abundance of application of mind,” Justice Nagaprasanna stated.
The “grant of an opportunity for hearing prior to grant of approval under Section 17 A [of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988] is not mandatory if the authority chooses to do so it is open to it,” the HC said.
