Denotification case: Yediyurappa appears before court, seeks bail
Former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa (Photo/IANS)
Bengaluru: Former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa appeared before the Special Court for Elected Representatives on Friday in connection with the Bellandur denotification case.
The counsel for Yediyurappa moved a petition seeking bail. The court has directed the prosecution to submit objections. The court has adjourned the next hearing to June 18.
The complaint was submitted by Vasudeva Reddy in 2013 in connection with the Bellandur denotification case. He had alleged that Yediyurappa during his tenure as the Deputy Chief Minister, had denotified 4.30 acres of land which was acquired for an IT Park by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB).
The court had issued summons to Yediyurappa in this regard.
Earlier, the Special Court in Bengaluru had ordered the registration of a criminal case against Yediyurappa in connection with the case in March.
Special Judge B. Jayantha Kumar had issued summons regarding the case lodged against him in 2013.
The judge had noted that it was a prima facie case and directed to lodge a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 Section 13 (1) (d) read with Section 13 (2).
The judge had stated that there was sufficient material to register a special criminal case against Yediyurappa.
The court observed that the complainant had made a prima facie case against the accused. The notification has been done despite the opinion of the KIADB CEO, the law department, the Advocate General and the Additional Secretary (Mines) not to denotify the land.
"It can't be said that Yediyurappa has done the denotification in exercise of his lawful powers," the court said.
The petition against Yediyurappa was filed by Vasudeva Reddy, a resident of Bengaluru. It has been alleged that he had denotified acquired land in the IT corridor between Whitefield and Electronics City misusing his power on June 21, 2006 regarding which the complaint was filed in 2013. The land has been allotted to entrepreneurs after denotification.