Setting the stage for a confrontation between the legislature and the judiciary, MLAs cutting across party affiliations on Wednesday termed the Karnataka High Court’s circular barring judges from sharing the dais with elected representatives during the inauguration of court buildings “an insult to the legislature”. They urged the government to assert the rights of the legislature.
The issue was raised by Congress member K.N. Rajanna during the ongoing session of the legislature. Taking exception to elected representatives being under suspicion, he wondered why the present Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court did not complain against the person who had approached him with an offer of returning a “favour” if there was a “favourable judgment”.
Mr. Rajanna alleged that judges were residing in posh residential quarters provided by the government. He also demanded that their assets be probed. BJP member and former Law Minister S. Suresh Kumar remarked that “there is a limit to the insult on the legislature”. Pointing out that the new court buildings, which were set for inauguration, were actually built by the State government, he suggested that the government itself inaugurate them and then hand them over to the court.
Expressing concern over the trend of looking at elected representatives with suspicion, he said: “All MLAs are not bad, and all judges are not good.” He urged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to be the advocate for the legislature in asserting its rights.
At one point in the debate, some of the MLAs, including Mr. Rajanna, even went to the extent of describing judges as “constitutional terrorists”, who instil fear of contempt of court and demanded that the government probe their assets. Speaker K.B. Koliwad supported the legislators saying the issue was a serious one.
