The Supreme Court has refused to intervene in the Karnataka High Court’s interim order, which stayed proceedings against Congress leader DK Shivakumar in a case of disproportionate assets.
A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma’s bench refused to interfere with the interim order, noting its provisional nature. “The impugned order being interim in nature, we are not inclined to interfere with the same, especially since the petitioner, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), has already filed an application to lift the stay granted in the impugned order by the High Court,” stated the court.
However, the Supreme Court urged the High Court to expeditiously hear and resolve the CBI’s application seeking the vacation of the stay and the pending appeal, preferably within a two-week timeframe. “The special leave petition stands disposed of accordingly,” the court concluded.
The CBI had filed an appeal against the Karnataka High Court’s June 12 order and sought a stay on the investigation in the case of disproportionate assets. Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, representing the CBI, urged the bench to lift the stay.
The CBI is investigating Shivakumar for allegedly possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. Previously, the Income Tax department had conducted a search on his premises.
