Bengaluru: The High Court postponed the hearing over the application seeking Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the case of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah allegedly influencing the grant of sites to his wife under 50:50 scheme at Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), to Dec. 19.

During the arguments heard at the Court on Tuesday, Advocate Dushyanth Dave, appearing for the land owner J. Devaraju, brought to the notice of the Court that the Divisional Bench of the High Court is still hearing the appeal filed against the order passed by Single-Judge Bench over the Governor’s permission for sanctioning the prosecution of CM Siddaramaiah.

Even though the order holds no bearing on us, we have to face the trial. Hence, it would be appropriate to defer the hearing on the application, he argued.

Advocate General Shashikiran Shetty, who presented his arguments on behalf of the Government, said that some of the respondents in the case are yet to be served the Court notice. Hence, it is imperative to grant some more time to hear the application over CBI probe.

Another Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, who argued on behalf of the Government, said that as per the plea of the applicants, the arguments of the respondents should be heard before handing over the case to CBI. The delay in issuing the notice to respondents should be considered, to grant some more time. As the date of hearing over the appeal is scheduled at the Divisional Bench of the Court, there would be no hiccup in  deferring the hearing.

That apart, the complainant Snehamayi Krishna is making baseless and personal allegations against Advocate General, that should also be taken into consideration by the Court,  argued Sibal.

Following this, the Court directed the Counsel appearing for Krishna to ask his client to maintain self-restraint.

The Counsel of Krishna argued that, CM himself is the prime accused in MUDA site scam.                        He himself being the head of the State, it would be appropriate to hand over the probe to either CBI or any other independent investigation  agency, free from the clutches of the State.

With the hearing over the application seeking CBI probe still pending, the Advocate also pleaded that, directions be issued to Lokayukta Police not to submit its final report. He also filed an interim application, seeking to include Enforcement Directorate (ED) as the respondent in the case.

The High Court postponed the hearing to Dec. 19, directing the respondents to file their objections if any against CBI probe.