The Supreme Court on Monday raised questions over the Enforcement Directorate's actions in politically charged cases as it quashed the case against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's wife in the MUDA case. Warning against the agency being used as a weapon in political wars, a bench led by Chief Justice BR Gavai remarked, "Let political wars be fought with the electorate. Why are you being used".
The bench of Chief Justice Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran was hearing the ED's appeal against a Karnataka High Court order quashing proceedings in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) case against BM Parvati, wife of the Karnataka chief minister.
"Mr Raju (Additional Solicitor General SV Raju appearing on behalf of the ED), please do not make us open our mouths. Otherwise, we will be left with no option but to pass some tough remarks regarding the ED. Alas, I have had some experience in Maharashtra. Don't spread violence. Let political wars be waged before the electorate. Why are you being used," stated the CJI.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah hailed the top court's ruling in the matter. The Chief Minister's office issued a statement terming the decision as one step towards justice and a setback for politically motivated intervention.
He, again, called the Supreme Court's rejection of the ED appeal to question his wife Parvathi BM, in the case related to allotment of sites at MUDA, as a "slap on the face" of the central government's "vendetta politics".
Welcoming the SC verdict, the CM stated that it must be a wake-up call for Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the misuse of central agencies for "political purposes".
The Supreme Court's landmark judgement dismissing the Enforcement Directorate's plea for probing my wife, Smt. Parvathi, with regard to the MUDA land allotment case is a stern slap on the Central Government's vendetta politics," Siddaramaiah tweeted in a post on 'X'.
"This judgment has not only revealed the malice of the case but has also clearly established our innocence of all the false charges," he further added.
Also read: Siddaramaiah 'killed' by Meta, translation blunder annoys CM
Quote media reports, the release said: "Supreme Court affirms order of the High Court quashing ED notice to Parvathi BM and Byrathi Suresh in MUDA case. SLPs rejected. The court warned against passing negative comments on ED. They said the issue should not be politicised. Battle your battles with the electorate. Rejected as they see no flaw in the learned single judge's order." Justice has triumphed and ED interference has come to an end in the MUDA case." The MUDA (Mysuru Urban Development Authority) case pertains to suspected irregularities in land handed over to Parvathi, wife of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
In the case of MUDA, it is claimed that Parvathi was provided with compensatory sites in an upscale locality in Mysuru, which was more valuable than her landholding locality, which had been "acquired" by the MUDA.
The MUDA had provided plots to Parvathi through a 50:50 ratio scheme in exchange for 3.16 acres of her land on which it constructed a residential layout.
For the contentious scheme, MUDA distributed 50 per cent of developed land to the losers of land in return for undeveloped land that was taken from them for the creation of residential layouts.
Parvathi is said not to have any legal title over land at 3.16 acres of survey number 464 of Kasare village, Kasaba hobli of Mysuru taluk.
The Lokayukta and the ED are investigating into the matter simultaneously.
The Enforcement Directorate had sent notices to both of them under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which were quashed later by the Karnataka High Court.
The ED had moved the High Court's order in the Supreme Court in the form of Special Leave Petitions (SLPs). But the apex court rejected the ED's plea, affirming the Karnataka High Court's order quashing the case.
Follow us
