High Court imposes cost of Rs one lakh on Karnataka govt
Bengaluru(PTI): Coming down heavily on the Karnataka government for its "lethargic attitude" for failing to make efforts to obtain sanction to prosecute a former chief secretary, the High Court imposed a fine of Rs one lakh on it.
The government pleader had sought six weeks' time to get sanction for prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act on April 20, 2022, and the court had granted six weeks.
In its recent daily order, the HC said "It appears that the government is not interested in pursuing the matter and protecting the property of the State, which is at the hands of the former Chief Secretary. Hence, the very attitude of the State has to be deprecated and till date even not processed the papers for getting sanction from DOPT (Department of Personnel and Training) and yet to send the papers."
Hence, the HC imposed the cost of Rs one lakh on the state government which has to be paid within one week.
"The state government is directed to deposit the fine amount and recover the same from the concerned, who have not taken any action in getting the sanction from the DOPT in sending papers in spite of six weeks time being granted."
The original complaint had been filed by Bhaskaran alleging that Arvind Jadhav, the then Chief Secretary, along with the deputy commissioner, assistant commissioner and Tahsildar of Anekal taluk had misused official power to create fake documents pertaining to government land in village Ramanayakanahalli in Anekal taluk.
The government initiated action against junior government officials and sanctioned permission to prosecute them under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
One of the accused, a surveyor at the department of land records, D B Gangaiah, approached the High Court against the case filed against him through his advocate A V Nishanth.
This petition is pending before the High Court from 2020. The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had submitted the progress report on the case to the HC in sealed covers in 2021. The court was informed that sanction to prosecute Anil Kumar, tahsildar of Anekal and other officials were pending.
In February 2022, the HC was informed that sanction was obtained to prosecute all government officials accused in the case except the retired Chief Secretary as he was "already retired from service and competent authority has to give sanction and the same is in process and it takes time since they have to get sanction from the Central Government DOPT."
In March, four weeks were sought to get the necessary documents translated. When the petition came up before Justice H P Sandesh on June 8, the sanction had not yet been obtained.
"...it appears that the state government is proceeding in the matter in a lethargic attitude and this Court has to prevail upon the state government to protect the property of the State when the former Chief Secretary made an attempt to knock off the property to an extent of 66 acres, in spite of complaint being filed in the year 2016," the HC said.
The Court has warned of serious action if the fine is not paid. "If cost is not paid, a serious action will be taken against the concerned regarding not processing the papers for getting the sanction from the department concerned," the Court said.
The petition has been posted for hearing next on June 16.
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BJP worker’s 16-year-old son allegedly casts eight votes in Uttar Pradesh’s Farrukhabad; Video viral
Lucknow (Farrukhabad): A viral video has surfaced showing a 16-year-old son of a BJP worker allegedly casting eight votes to the saffron party during the ongoing general elections in Uttar Pradesh. The video has sparked controversy, and the opposition has urged for prompt action from the Election Commission of India, reports scroll.in.
The video shared by the Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav on micro-blogging site ‘X’, showed the youngster recording himself while casting multiple times in a series of instances. The incident reportedly took place in Khiri Pamaran village, which falls under the Aliganj Assembly constituency within the Farrukhabad parliamentary seat. Mukesh Rajput, the sitting MP, is the BJP candidate in this constituency. Polling in Farrukhabad occurred on May 13 during the fourth phase of the general election.
In the viral video, the youngster is seen casting eight votes in total, all for the BJP, one by one with different clippings.
The youngster in the video has been identified as Rajan Singh Thakur, confirmed his father, Anil Singh Thakur to the Scroll.in. Anil Singh Thakur is the gram pradhan (village head) of Khiri Pamaran and a member of the BJP.
Anil defending his son told the Scroll that the ‘Video misrepresented his son,’ and claimed that the voting was done when the machine was being tested in some instances and other clipping of him voting on behalf of mentally and physically disabled voters was merged and made into a video.
Despite the Anil's caims, the video has drawn significant criticism. Subhash Chandra Prajapati, the additional district magistrate of Farrukhabad, confirmed to the Scroll that the administration will file a case soon. He mentioned that the returning officer is investigating the matter following a directive from the chief electoral officer in Lucknow.
The opposition has been vocal in its criticism, with Akhilesh Yadav demanding action from the Election Commission. In his social media post, Yadav accused the BJP of undermining the electoral process and described the party's booth committee as a "loot committee." The Congress party also called on the Election Commission to take action, in a ‘X’ post the party wrote, “Dear Election Commission…are you watching..a boy is voting 8-8 times ... .at least wake up now.”
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, took to ‘X’ to express, “Fearing and seeing their defeat, the BJP is attempting to undermine democracy by pressuring government machinery to deny the mandate. The Congress expects all officers performing election duties to remember their constitutional responsibilities despite any pressure from those in power. Otherwise, once the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc government is formed, actions will be taken to ensure that anyone will think ten times before violating their 'Oath to the Constitution'."
Following the video's circulation, Naval Kishor Shakya, the Samajwadi Party candidate in Farrukhabad, filed a complaint with the district election officer. Shakya's complaint alleges that Rajan Singh Thakur cast votes after snatching voter information slips from other voters and that he was assisted by Dinesh Thakur, the local police station's station house officer. Shakya has called for re-polling at the affected polling center.
In a related incident earlier in May, Gujarat Police arrested two BJP workers for allegedly casting bogus votes and live-streaming the act on social media in the Dahod constituency. The Election Commission conducted re-polling at the affected booth following the incident.
The opposition INDIA bloc, including the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, has repeatedly accused the Election Commission of failing to take prompt action against election model code of conduct violations.
अपनी हार सामने देख कर भाजपा जनादेश को झुठलाने के लिए सरकारी तंत्र पर दबाव बना कर लोकतंत्र को लूटना चाहती है।
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 19, 2024
कांग्रेस चुनावी ड्यूटी कर रहे सभी अधिकारियों से यह अपेक्षा करती है कि वो सत्ता के दबाव के सामने अपनी संवैधानिक ज़िम्मेदारी न भूलें।
वरना INDIA की सरकार बनते ही ऐसी… https://t.co/fk4wXL8QZy
