Karnataka HC vacates stay on KMF recruitment by Gujarat-based agency
Bengaluru, Apr 20: The High Court on Thursday vacated the stay on the recruitment for 487 posts of the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) by a Gujarat-based agency.
The court had earlier granted an interim stay on the recruitment process.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice MSG Kamal heard the public interest litigation filed by five milk producing co-operative societies challenging the recruitment.
The court allowed the recruitment process and also the announcement of the final list of candidates subject to the outcome of the PIL..
The court had earlier on March 17 gave an interim stay on the recruitment for the various posts.
The PIL filed by the Itapanahallli Milk Producers Co-operative Society Ltd and four other societies from Chikkaballapura had said that the recruitment notification issued by the KMF on October 20, 2022 had appointed Gujarat-based Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) as the examination agency.
The exams were held on December 18, 2022 and results were announced on January 25, 2023.
The PIL alleged that there were protests against the proposed merger of KMF with Gujarat-based AMUL but an agency from Anand, which is also the headquarters of Amul, was chosen for the recruitment process though it did not have prior experience in such recruitment.
It was claimed that as per the Karnataka Co-operative Societies Rules ( Rule 18), the written test should comprise of 200 marks including Kannada language.
The examination agency should, therefore, be from within the State to have expertise in Kannada. The petition also challenged the marks of the candidates being announced before the interview process.
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Plea about 'threat' to Rahul Gandhi filed without his consent, to be withdrawn: Lawyer
Pune, Aug 13 (PTI): Hours after filing a plea in a court here claiming apprehension of threat to Rahul Gandhi from the followers of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, the Congress leader's lawyer on Wednesday said it was filed without Gandhi's consent, and would be withdrawn.
He will submit another application on Thursday to withdraw the `Pursis' or the application filed before Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Amol Shinde, said Advocate Milind Pawar.
Pawar is representing Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case filed by Satyaki Savarkar, grand-nephew of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, over certain statements made by the Congress leader against the late freedom fighter and Hindutva ideologue.
He drafted the application without consulting Gandhi and the latter has taken a "strong exception to the filing of this Pursis and expressed his disagreement with its contents", the lawyer said in a press release late in the evening.
The application filed by advocate Pawar earlier in the day said that complainant Satyaki Savarkar had admitted that he is also a direct descendant, through maternal lineage, of Nathuram Godse and Gopal Godse, principal accused in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.
Gandhi is the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and recently held a press conference in Delhi, placing before the nation evidence of electoral fraud by the Election Commission, the application said.
"Furthermore, during the parliamentary debate on the subject of Hindutva, there was a heated exchange between the Prime Minister and Shri Rahul Gandhi, a matter well known to the public. Against this backdrop, there is little doubt that the complainant, his great-grandfathers (the Godses), those connected with the ideology of Vinayak Savarkar, and some followers of Savarkar who are presently in power, may harbor hostility or resentment towards Gandhi," the application said.
"In light of the documented history of violent and anti-constitutional tendencies linked to the complainant's lineage, and considering the prevailing political climate, there exists a clear, reasonable, and substantial apprehension that Rahul Gandhi may face harm, wrongful implication, or other forms of targeting by persons subscribing to the ideology of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar," the application stated.
The Pune court has already granted bail to Rahul Gandhi in the defamation case. The trial is yet to begin.
Reacting to the development, Advocate Sangram Kolhatkar, Satyaki Savarkar's lawyer, asked why the application was filed in the first place. "This is nothing but an attempt to delay the trial by moving such frivolous pleas," he said.
Satyaki Savarkar has filed a defamation complaint against Rahul Gandhi, alleging that in a speech made in London in March 2023, the Congress leader claimed that V D Savarkar had written in a book that he and five to six of his friends once beat up a Muslim man and he (Savarkar) felt happy.
No such incident ever took place, and V D Savarkar never wrote any such thing anywhere, the complaint claimed.
