The Karnataka High Court on Thursday ordered an interim stay on an inquiry by a Special Investigation Team into allegations of land grabbing by Union minister HD Kumaraswamy, Live Law reported.

The Janata Dal (Secular) leader and former chief minister of Karnataka has been accused of encroaching on 14.04 acres of government land in Kethaganahalli in the state’s Ramanagara district. On January 28, the state government formed a Special Investigation Team headed by Bengaluru Regional Commissioner Amlan Aditya Biswas to look into the allegations.

The tehsildar of the Ramanagara taluk had issued summons to Kumaraswamy on May 29.

However, on Thursday, Justice ES Indiresh of the High Court stayed the inquiry, noting that there appeared to be no official notification for forming the Special Investigation Team, PTI reported.

The judge stayed both the formation of the SIT as well as the summons issued to Kumaraswamy. He directed the state government to respond to the Janata Dal (Secular) leader’s petition challenging the legality of the investigation.

An activist named SR Hiremath had made the allegations of land grabbing against Kumaraswamy in 2020, The Hindu reported. He had claimed that the former chief minister and his relatives had encroached on grazing land in Kethiganahalli, and that despite a High Court order for the land to be recovered, no action was taken.

Hiremath’s organisation, Samaj Parivartana Samudaya, has filed a contempt petition in the High Court, questioning why action was not taken.

However, Kumaraswamy has claimed that he legally purchased multiple plots in the village between 1985 and 1987 through registered sale deeds. He maintained that he had been in lawful possession of the land for nearly 40 years.

The former chief minister added that the tehsildar had no jurisdiction to issue the notice as such a power was vested only with the assistant commissioner under the provisions of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act.