Karnataka HC Says Govt Order Withdrawing Prosecution Won't Apply To MPs/MLAs

Background of the Case

• In the case of Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court in 2016. It demanded debarring of convicted persons from the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary.
• The report was submitted to the Court informing it of instances of proposed case withdrawals, which included an Order (dated 31.08.2020) by the Government of Karnataka, which instructed for withdrawal of 61 cases, many of which were against elected representatives of the State Legislature.
• The Supreme Court, on August 10, 2021, ruled that no prosecutions against sitting or former MPs and MLAs will be withdrawn without the permission of the state's High Court.
• The order was issued by a bench consisting of Hon'ble CJI NV Ramana, Justice Vineet Saran, and Justice Surya Kant.
• The Apex Court also asked the HCs to examine all withdrawals, whether pending or completed after 16.09.2020, in light of Supreme Court guidelines.

The Present Plea

• The People's Union for Civil Liberties, Karnataka, has filed the present plea in the Karnataka High Court.
• The plea challenges the withdrawal of the 61 cases based on the order dated August 31, 2020.
• The plea states that the withdrawn cases include those against then State Law Minister JC Madhuswamy, Tourism Minister CT Ravi, Agriculture Minister B C Patil, and Hospet MLA Anand Singh.
• Advocate Sudha Katwa had also filed another connected petition, which had similar contentions and plea.

Order

• The Bench constituting of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice N Sanjay Gowda disposed of public interest litigation filed by the People's Union for Civil Liberties-Karnataka.
• The Court has already stayed the Government Order to enable the withdrawal of 61 cases by its order on December 21, 2020.
• This also implies that permission from the High Court would be required before criminal charges against legislators could be dropped.
• The Court clarified in the plea of Advocate Sudha Katwa that the state would be bound by Supreme Court orders issued on August 10, 2021, to withdraw prosecution against the sitting or former MPs/MLAs. The next hearing related to this matter is to be held on September 3, 2021.

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