By IANS,
Bangalore : The Karnataka High Court Wednesday deferred the hearing to Aug 17 on a writ petition filed by former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa for quashing the Lokayukta’s final investigation report in the multi-crore mining scam which recommended his prosecution.
The court’s division bench headed by Justice K.L. Manjunath directed Yeddyurappa to submit the annexures of the voluminous report and a copy of the Aug 3 order to Governor H.R. Bhardwaj.
Yeddyurappa, who resigned July 31, approached the high court Aug 2 for quashing chapter 22 of the report on the grounds that former ombudsman N. Santosh Hegde went beyond the terms of reference to probe illegal mining from 2000 to 2010.
“As I have not been given any opportunity to present my version, the recommendation for my trial is against principles of natural justice,” Yeddyurappa pleaded in the petition.
In chapter 22, Hegde mentioned that Prerana Education and Social Trust, run by Yeddyurappa’s two sons – B.Y. Vijayendra and B.Y. Raghavendra, received Rs.10 crore as donation from South West Mining Co (SWM), which applied to the government for three mining leases in Bellary region in north Karnataka, about 300 km from here.
SWM of Jindal group is also accused of paying Yeddyurappa’s sons a whopping Rs.20 crore for buying one acre of land near Bangalore from them when the government’s guidance value was only Rs.1 crore.
Maintaining that he had no links with the trust, Yeddyurappa contended that he had not favoured SWM in any way and was in no way connected with the dealings between his sons and the mining firm.