New Delhi, 22 Sept 

The Supreme Court on Monday said a bench led by Justice Surya Kant would hear pleas challenging State’s decision to withdraw consent to investigate a disproportionate assets case against Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar.

A bench comprising Chief Justice BR Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran noted that the pleas were earlier dealt by another bench headed by Justice Surya Kant.

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the Congress leader, said the CJI earlier said that political scores should be settled elsewhere and not in courts.

The CJI said that it would be in the best interest of justice, if the pleas are heard by another bench and directed that they be listed before Justice Surya Kant-led bench.

In October last year, the CBI moved the top court against the State government's decision to withdraw its consent to the probe agency for investigating the DA case against Shivakumar.

The apex court sought responses from Shivakumar and the State government.

On 17 September, last year, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan had issued notices to Shivakumar and the State government.

The current State Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on 23 November, 2023, held the previous BJP government's 2019 move to give consent to the CBI to investigate the DA case against Shivakumar was not in accordance with law and decided to withdraw the sanction as a result.

The CBI had alleged that Shivakumar amassed assets disproportionate to his known sources of income between 2013 and 2018.