Why are you being used for political battles? Supreme Court asks ED; rejects appeal in MUDA case

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against the Karnataka High Court decision to quash the summons issued to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife, BM Parvathi, who is an accused in the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam case.

A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran said that political battles should be fought outside the Court. It also asked why ED was being used to fight such battles.

"Unfortunately, I have some experience in Maharashtra. Please do not force us to say something. Otherwise we have to say something very harsh about the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Let political battles be fought among the electorate. Why are you being used for it?" the Court asked.

"Okay, we will withdraw. But let it not be treated as a precedent," Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju said on behalf of the ED.

The Court then proceeded to reject the plea and said that there was no error in the reasoning adopted by the High Court single-judge who had quashed the summons.

"We do not find any error in reasoning adopted in approach of single judge. In peculiar facts and circumstances, we dismiss it. We should thank you ASG for saving some harsh comments," the Court said.

The case involves allegations of corruption and irregular allocation of land by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) to Siddaramaiah's wife, Parvathi.

As per the complaint, Parvathi was ‘gifted’ a land plot measuring a little over three acres by her brother Swamy. The land was initially acquired, then de-notified and bought by Swamy. It was developed by MUDA even though private individuals owned it.

Swamy has claimed that he bought the land in 2004 and gifted it to his sister. However, since the land was illegally developed by MUDA, Parvathi sought compensation. She allegedly received highly inflated compensation, including 14 developed alternate plots of land that were much higher in value than the original three acres, under a 50:50 scheme.

She later surrendered the land back to the authorities.

Justice M Nagaprasanna of the High Court had on March 7 quashed the summons issued by ED to Parvathi.

The single-judge had also quashed summons to Minister Byrathi Suresh, who was not named as an accused, but whom the ED has sought to question in the case.

This led to the appeal before the apex court.

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