BSY's appeal in land case sent to a larger bench

The Supreme Court on Monday refrained from taking a decision on a legal issue pertaining to the need for a sanction under Section 17A of Prevention of Corruption Act when a magistrate has ordered investigation since the said issue is already pending before another bench.

A bench comprising justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra deferred its judgement on the plea by BJP leader BS Yediyurappa to quash a land denotification from 2011, after noting that it raised certain legal questions that were already slated to be considered by a larger bench.

The case against Yediyurappa involves allegations of corruption when he was deputy chief minister of Karnataka. However, since another pending case already raised similar legal questions that were referred to a larger bench, the division bench tagged Yediyurappa's plea with that case. "When we were about to start working (on the judgement), we realised there was another order passed by the coordinate bench on April 16, 2024 - Shamin Khan vs Debashish Chakrabarty and Ors - the very same issues are referred to the larger bench. We felt propriety demands (that this matter also be referred to the same bench)."