In a significant decision, the Karnataka High Court has set aside the orders of the trial courts convicting and sentencing BJP’s Chickpet MLA Uday B Garudachar for not disclosing a pending criminal case in his 2018 election nomination papers. Justice Krishna S. Dixit passed the order, allowing a criminal revision petition filed by Mr. Uday.
The High Court ruled that Mr. Garudachar was not required to disclose the information about the criminal case, as no charge had been framed against him. While agreeing with the petitioner’s contention that the proceedings initiated against him were an abuse of the court’s process, the High Court granted him a clean chit, relieving him of the subject criminal proceeding. This decision comes as a significant relief for Mr. Garudachar, who had faced conviction and imprisonment based on the non-disclosure of the pending criminal case.