Former chairpersons of academies plan legal action against government

Karnataka Government did not maintain status quo despite court directive

The Karnataka government, which recently appointed chairpersons to 11 cultural academies and two literary authorities after a gap of eight months, is likely to face legal problems.

The former chairpersons of Lalithakala, Beary, Kodava and Yakshagana academies approached the High Court of Karnataka questioning the government’s decision to seek their resignations after coming to power last year.

After hearing their plea, the court had directed the government to maintain

status quo .

But, following the appointment of the four academy heads, the former chairpersons are planning legal action against the government for circumventing the court’s directive.

The former chairperson of the Karnataka Lalithakala Academy Chi.Su. Krishna Shetty told The Hindu that they approached the court to protect the “honour” of autonomy of the academies. “It is our responsibility to bring the issue to the court’s notice,” he said.

The government, which sought time during 12 hearings to respond to the court’s notice in the past seven months, made appointments without explaining its stand despite a direction to maintain

status quo .

“There is no other way for us but to approach the court again,” he said.

M.L. Samaga and Rahim Uchchil, former chairpersons of Yakshagana and Beary academies respectively, reacted similarly.

Meanwhile, Director of the Department of Kannada and Culture K.A. Dayanand said that he was not aware of the details of the case as he took charge recently.

The government had the power to seek resignations of chairpersons of academies as “the order given to them at the time of appointment will be in force till the further order”.

But, the court had not stayed the appointment and the government took a decision after consulting legal experts, he added.