The Karnataka High Court will pronounce its verdict on a plea filed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah challenging the approval given by Governor Taawarchand Gehlot for conducting investigation against him in the alleged illegalities in Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) allotting sites to his wife.

Justice M Nagaprasanna had reserved the judgment on September 12. The judge will pronounce his verdict at 12 pm today, ANI reported.

What is the MUDA scam about?

In July this year, three anti-corruption activists — T J Abraham, Snehamayi Krishna, and Pradeep Kumar — approached the governor for sanction to file complaints against Siddaramaiah. It was alleged that MUDA illegally allotted 14 sites to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife in the prime location of Mysuru city.

Also Read: What is the MUDA scam for which the Karnataka governor approved CM Siddaramaiah’s prosecution?

They alleged that his wife Parvathi received 14 housing sites from MUDA in exchange for a 3.16-acre plot of land that MUDA illegally acquired in 2021 during the previous BJP-led government’s tenure. This allegedly resulted in a Rs. 55.80 crore loss for the state.

Karnataka Governor Thawarchand Gehlot issued a show cause notice on July 26 to the Chief Minister. Though Karnataka’s Council of Ministers passed a resolution “strongly advising” the Governor to withdraw the notice on August 1, the governor sanctioned the proceedings against Siddaramaiah under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, on August 16.

The High Court, in its interim order passed on August 19, had granted temporary relief to Siddaramaiah by directing a special court in Bengaluru to defer further proceedings and not to take any precipitative action pursuant to the sanction granted by the Governor.

Then, on August 31, the office of the Karnataka Governor told the high court that the sanction granted to prosecute Karnataka Chief Minister K Siddaramaiah in the alleged Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam was done after “application of mind.”

Also Read: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah to be prosecuted in MUDA scam case, says report

In August, amid the row over Karnataka Governor Thawarchand Gehlot granting permission for the prosecution of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, state ministers, Karnataka ministers and Congress legislators conducted a ‘Raj Bhavan Chalo’ protest against Governor Gehlot.

The Congress accused the Governor of discriminatory behavior alleging that several other cases are also pending before the Governor, but he has not made any decisions on them.

Meanwhile, Governor Gehlot last week wrote to the state’s Chief Secretary, Shalini Rajneesh, over the alleged MUDA scam and demanded a detailed report along with documents at the earliest.

The letter mentioned that P.S. Nataraj, Mysuru, has submitted a detailed representation dated August 27, wherein he has informed that the Mysuru Urban Development Authority has undertaken works worth Rs 387 crores in violation of sections 15 and 25 of the Karnataka Urban Development Authority Act, 1987, on the oral instruction of the Chief Minister in his constituency, Varuna and also in Srirangapattana constituency.

“The petitioner has also informed that, in spite of the non-availability of funds in the authority, a decision has been taken on the oral instruction of the Chief Minister. Further, he alleged that by doing this, the authority has misused its power and requested to conduct an inquiry from CBI. Since the allegation is serious in nature, it is directed to look into the matter and submit the detailed report along with documents at the earliest,” the governor said.

(With inputs from ANI)