The Karnataka High Court on Monday decided to frame charges against three IAS officers for ‘wilfully disobeying’ an the order of the High Court, which in July 2016 had directed the authorities to provide two alternative sites to a petitioner.
Rakesh Singh, Commissioner of Bangalore Development Authority (BDA); Mahendra Jain, Principal Secretary, Urban Development Department; and Rajkumar Khatri, Principal Secretary, Revenue Department, are the three officers who will have to personally appear before the court on September 5 to face charges of wilfully disobeying the court’s order.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Raghvendra S. Chauhan and Justice H.T. Narendra Prasad passed the order after holding that the three officers prima facie violated the court’s order.
A single judge on July 20, 2016, had directed the BDA to allot two alternative sites in lieu of occupying and utilising two sites, which were carved out of acquired land belonging to one S.N. Narasimha Murthy, even after the acquisition processes were quashed by the courts, a civil court granted decree in favour of the Mr. Murthy.
The single judge had given five months for the BDA to allot alternative sites to the landowner.
As the BDA failed to adhere to the 2016 order, Mr. Murthy in February 2018 had moved the contempt of court petition. During the hearing of the contempt petition, the High Court was informed on behalf of the government that efforts were made to settle the dispute amicably with the landowner, and several adjournments were taken on behalf of the officers.
During the hearing on Monday, the Bench noticed from the records that on one side, the Revenue Secretary had recommended to the State Cabinet to allot alternative land citing the contempt petition, and on the other hand the Revenue Secretary himself had pointed out to the Cabinet that the alternative land at Chikkajala village cannot be allotted as per the law.
