Advocate sent to jail in Karnataka for making wild allegations against judicial system
Bengaluru, Feb 8: The High Court of Karnataka has sentenced an advocate to prison for one week for "making wild allegations against the judicial system and the Judicial Officers in particular".
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Ashok S Kinagi recently ordered that advocate K S Anil be taken into custody and again presented before it on February 10.
Anil, who is facing a criminal contempt of court proceedings in the HC had filed a memo-cum-written submission in which he had urged that his case be transferred to another bench as he had filed a complaint against the sitting judges.
Quoting the advocate's submission, the HC in its order said, "The statement made by the accused in paragraph 6 making allegations against the Judges of this Court clearly shows that the accused is having no regards to the judicial system. The accused being a practicing advocate and consistent behavior of the accused on the earlier occasions and today making wild allegations against the judicial system and the Judicial Officers in particular indicates that he is trying to demean the institution and is lowering the image of the judicial system in public eye."
The Court said it is left with no other option except to pass an order for taking the accused into judicial custody for committing contempt of Court, it said.
The original criminal contempt case against Anil was filed in 2019. He had been issued a bailable warrant which he had received on October 14, 2019. He accepted another notice in May 2020. Another suo-moto contempt petition was initiated against him.
The court noted that when police authorities made an attempt to serve him the bailable warrant, he refused to respond. The police filed a detailed report to the court about this.
The HC only quoted a paragraph in which Anil claimed he was ill and wants both the Chief Justice and other judges to recuse themselves from his case and all his cases before another common bench.
Anil had alleged that "All this attitude of KAR HC judges itself proves the severe abuse of Contempt act/law that in lack of transparency, to keep judicial corruption alive and live-streaming is not done fully."
The HC in its order said, "We need not refer to other statements made in the memo at this stage as they are in the form of allegations against the Judges of this Court."
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Karnataka Assembly passes bill on Palace Grounds amid opposition protest
Bengaluru, Mar 6 (PTI): The Karnataka Assembly on Thursday passed the Bangalore Palace (Utilisation and Regulation of Land) Bill, reaffirming state ownership over 472 acres and 16 guntas of land here, amid protests by the opposition BJP.
During the discussion, Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil said the state government would have to provide Rs 200 crore worth of Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) for each acre of land, which means that for 15 acres, Rs 3,000 crore worth of TDR would be issued.
“If we accept it, then this 2-km stretch of road will become the costliest road in the world. If we accept it then how are we going to develop the city in later stages? How will you carry out development works?” asked Patil.
He also pointed out that this question was raised not only under the Congress government but also during the previous BJP regime.
However, the BJP-led cabinet has opposed the project.
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“Suppose we agree to it then, what will be the valuation of the 472 acres? It will be lakhs and lakhs of crores of rupees. Can we accept?” Patil wondered.
The Minister said the government had previously exercised its executive powers to issue an ordinance, which was approved by the Governor. Now the government is bringing a bill with two amendments.
“In this bill, we have made provisions either to develop or drop the road development work,” Patil explained.
However, BJP state president B Y Vijayendra and BJP MLA Arvind Bellad opposed the move, alleging that the government was targetting Yaduveer Krishna Datta Chamaraja Wadiyar, the scion of the Mysuru royal family, and the BJP MP from Mysuru-Kodagu constituency out of political vendetta.
“We talk of 472 acres of Mysuru Maharaja but here there are many Maharajas who too own 400 acres, 500 acres and thousands of acres of land, which is known to everyone,” Bellad said.
He slammed the Congress government, saying political power should not be misused for personal vendetta.
“Why (the then Deputy Chief Minister) Siddaramaiah brought the law in 1996 pertaining to the Bangalore Palace? Why are you setting eyes on the Bangalore Palace?” he asked.
Vijayendra charged that Wadiyar won the election on BJP ticket so the state government realised that it should acquire it.
“This bill has been brought for political vengeance. We are not discussing whether Rs 3,000 crore is exorbitant or not but the moment Yaduveer became MP, the state government woke up. You should be ashamed. This house should not be used for political vendetta,” he said.
Intervening, Minister Priyank Kharge said Vijayendra should not have raised it because the intention behind building the road was noble.
According to him, the BJP too had the same plan when it was in power.
He sought to know whether thousands of crores of rupees be spent on a road which should have cost significantly less.
In response, BJP MLA B A Basavaraj (Byrathi) said issuing TDR will not be a burden on the state government and appealed to the ruling Congress to reconsider its stance.
Minister Ramalinga Reddy too explained that the Karnataka government acquired the entire land way back in 1996.
The Mysuru royal family went to the High Court, which gave ruling in favour of the state government. The royal family then approached the Supreme Court, where the case is still going on, the Minister pointed out.
“The final judgment is pending in the SC to decide whether the acquisition was right or wrong. If the SC says it’s the royal family’s property then let it be so. If the order is in the state government’s favour then we can take a decision. The bill is only about it,” Reddy explained.
Speaker U T Khader then called for a voice vote and the bill was passed by the Assembly amidst opposition BJP’s discontent.
