Why is ED being used for ‘political battles’, asks SC in alleged Mysuru land scam

The Supreme Court on Monday asked why the Enforcement Directorate was being used for “political battles”, and said that such battles must be fought outside the court, Bar and Bench reported.

A bench of Chief Justice BR Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran rejected an appeal filed by the agency against a Karnataka High Court decision to quash the summons issued to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathi in an alleged land scam

“…Please do not force us to say something,” Bar and Bench quoted the bench as saying. “Otherwise we have to say something very harsh about the Enforcement Directorate. Let political battles be fought among the electorate. Why are you being used for it?”

Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, representing the Enforcement Directorate, agreed to withdraw the appeal. “But let it not be treated as a precedent,” Raju added. While rejecting the petition, the bench also said that there was no error in the reasoning adopted by the High Court in the matter.

The alleged scam pertains to the allotment of 14 high-value housing sites in Mysuru’s Vijaynagar area to Parvathi, in 2021 by the Mysore Urban Development Authority under a state government scheme.

This was allegedly done in exchange for 3.1 acres of land that Parvathi owned in another part of the city. The...

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