BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah called the probe against Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar “unlawful” on Friday, adding that it was ordered without sanction from the then Assembly Speaker.
During an interaction with the reporters after inaugurating the ‘Bangalore City Safe City Command Centre’ building today in Bengaluru, the CM said that the previous government had ordered the probe against D K Shivakumar without obtaining consent from the Assembly Speaker and without considering the opinion of the Advocate General which is not in accordance with the law.
“The permission of the government is necessary for any investigation against a government servant. Shivakumar was an MLA in 2019 when the probe against him was sanctioned. The investigation against him should be legally sanctioned by the Assembly Speaker and then the Chief Minister should order the investigation”, CM Siddaramaiah said.
“But no sanction was obtained from the Assembly Speaker and the opinion of the Advocate General’s opinion was not considered by the then Chief Minister Yediyurappa and he had orally instructed the Chief Secretary. Based on his oral instruction, the Chief Secretary had handed over the case to CBI for investigation and this is unlawful”, the CM remarked. “I will not comment on the court’s decision. It is not right on the part of the government to sanction it illegally. Hence the decision was taken to withdraw the sanction for investigation”, he added.
The Congress-ruled government, on November 23, approved a proposal to withdraw the CBI probe against Deputy CM DK Shivakumar in an alleged disproportionate assets case. Responding to a question that the government has taken this decision being apprehensive about the court’s decision to uphold the order on the 29th, the CM said, “We will not interfere in the verdicts of the court. Let the court decide”.
Talking about the state cabinet’s nod to the proposal, Congress leader and Law Minister H K Patil said the former BJP-led state government’s decision to hand over the case to CBI was “not in accordance with the law”.
The CBI filed an FIR against D K Shivakumar in 2018, and then Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa agreed to hand over the case to the central probe agency in 2019. The CBI has been probing a case against Shivakumar for allegedly possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. Earlier, Income Tax conducted a search against him. (ANI)