The Hindu : Karnataka News : Petition against appointment of member-secretary rejected

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 10, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Petition against appointment of member-secretary rejected

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, JUNE 9. The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday rejected the petitions by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board Officers Association (KSPCBOA) and six others challenging the appointment of Rashmi Mahesh as Member-Secretary of the Board.

The association and the others submitted that the Government had erred in appointing an IAS officer as Member-Secretary.

They said the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, specified that only a qualified person should hold the post of Member-Secretary.

They said Ms. Mahesh was appointed as Member-Secretary, though she had no educational qualification to hold the post.

They said her appointment was against certain provisions of the Act.

They claimed that the Act specified that only a person with an engineering background should hold the post.

They had urged the court to remove Ms. Mahesh from the post.

The State said the post of Member-Secretary was equivalent to that of a Deputy Secretary of the Government. Moreover, Ms. Mahesh had held different posts during her earlier postings. She had dealt with the discharge of effluents by sugar factories when she was the Joint Secretary in the Department of Cooperation.

When Ms. Mahesh was posted as the Deputy Commissioner to the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, she was involved in the solid waste management project.

Justice R. Gururajan, while rejecting the petitions, said the court could not accept the petitioners' contention that the Member-Secretary should have a background in engineering. "A mere non-possession of a degree in engineering or a degree in science does not come in the way of proper implementation of the Act," he said.

Adjourned

A Division Bench, comprising the Chief Justice, N.K. Jain, and Justice V.G. Sabhahit, adjourned for Thursday an appeal by A.B. Shetty Dental College challenging the order of a single judge of the court.

The single judge had vacated the interim order of another judge and asked the college to abide by the 50:50 sharing of postgraduate dental seats.

Set aside

Another Division Bench, comprising Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice A.C. Kabbin, allowed a writ appeal by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and set aside the order of a single judge.

The BDA had challenged the October 13, 2000 order of the single judge directing it to allot an alternative site to K.R. Krishne Gowda of Maddur, Mandya district.

Krishne Gowda was allotted a site on June 7, 1990 in Kumaraswamy Layout in Bangalore South. When Mr. Gowda could not pay the money, the site was allotted to another person.

Mr. Gowda approached the then Minister for Urban Development and got him to write to the BDA asking it to allot an alternative site.

Mr. Gowda gave the letter to the BDA and sought allotment of an alternative site.

When the BDA did not allot an alternative site, Mr. Gowda moved the High Court. A single judge directed the BDA to allot a site to Mr. Gowda.

The BDA challenged the single judge's order on the ground that Mr. Gowda could not be allotted alternative site as it was against the Bangalore Development Authority Act.

The Division Bench, while setting aside the single judge's order, directed the BDA to refund the deposit amount of Mr. Gowda.

It also directed Mr. Gowda to apply for fresh allotment of a site and asked the BDA to consider it.

Dismissed

A Division Bench, comprising Justice S.R. Nayak and Justice Manjula Challur, dismissed a petition by S.T. Ramesh on the ground of non-prosecution.

In his petition, Mr. Ramesh had challenged certain adverse remarks made in his service record by C. Dinakar, the then Director-General of Police, Corps of Detectives (CoD), in his confidential report.

Mr. Ramesh said he was posted in the CoD when the remarks were made against him.

The Central Administrative Tribunal rejected the petition. Mr. Ramesh, now posted as the Additional Director-General of Police, State Crime Records Bureau, had challenged the order of the Administrative Tribunal.

Posted for next week

Justice S.R. Bannurmath has posted for next week an appeal by a resident of Bhaktal seeking release of his passport.

Motishan Mohammad Ismail submitted that the CBI had seized his passport some years ago. Ismail sought the return of his passport, as he wanted to go abroad. He had filed a case in the court of the First Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Bangalore.

The CBI had opposed the release of the passport on the ground that the trial was still going on and that Ismail had been charged with offences under the Arms Act. On February 24, 2004 the court refused to release the passport. In his appeal, Ismail urged the court to set aside the order of the magistrate and direct the authorities concerned to issue a temporary travel document to enable him to go abroad.

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