The Hindu : Front Page : Cases filed against RJD activists

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Thursday, Dec 23, 2004

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Front Page

Cases filed against RJD activists

By Our Special Correspondent

PATNA, DEC. 22. Twenty cases have been filed against Rashtriya Janata Dal activists for putting up illegal hoarding and banners in Patna, the District Magistrate, Goutam Goswami, said today. Cases have been filed in Vaishali district also.

The cases were filed on the directives of the Election Commission Adviser, K.J. Rao, who toured the two districts to probe violations of the model code of conduct.

Mr. Rao assessed the role, if any, of the State Government machinery and that of the Railways in the preparation for a rally, which the RJD called off yesterday. Mr. Rao pulled up several officials for not imposing the rules in matters relating to putting up hoardings in public and prohibited places such as government buildings.

Mr. Rao, who started his inspection at 9 a.m., travelled on all main roads in Patna and Hajipur and visited the Commercial Taxes office, the bus stand, the railway station, the airport and the MLA colony here. He also went to areas near the Chief Minister's residence and the Raj Bhavan.

Officials pulled up

It was almost the same scene everywhere and officials, including the two District Magistrates, were pulled up. The Deputy Superintendent of Police replied in the negative when Mr. Rao asked him if he had filed a case against those who had written party slogans on the walls of the Kotwali police station. "I've just joined duty," was the DSP's excuse. The officials admitted that hoardings had been put up at various government buildings and also named them.

"Were taxes paid on the hoardings put in the State capital," Mr. Rao asked the officials at the airport before leaving for New Delhi. The officials replied in the negative.

Mr. Goswami told Mr. Rao that permission had been granted to put up 189 hoardings in Sadar Patna and that he did not have the information for other parts of the capital. Displaying a copy of the Bihar Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, 1985, Mr. Rao said, "It is under this Act that the hoardings are to be put up." Earlier, he asked labourers if they knew who was paying them for removing the hoardings. "The Government," they said. He sought to know why the district administration was paying for it when the work should have been paid for by the RJD. Mr. Goswami said he would send the bill to the RJD.

A visit to the Patna and Hajipur railway stations revealed how the premises had been "misused" and the trains either painted or pasted with RJD posters. "What could I do," was the reply of a railway official, when Mr. Rao asked him why he allowed the posters and banners. It was the same story at the bus stand.

Mr. Rao enquired about the tents put up in the MLAs' colony to accommodate the rallyists. "A marriage is being celebrated," said the officials. To this, Mr. Rao retorted: "You mean to say that marriages are being held at almost all the official residences of the MLAs and Ministers!"

Mr. Rao told The Hindu that he would submit a report to the EC either tomorrow or latest by Friday. He, however, declined to comment on his assessment, saying, "You people had seen it when I went about my job."

Mr. Rao is carrying with him notes on the case filed against the Chief Election Commissioner, T.S. Krishnamurthy, by some persons before the Chief Judicial Magistrate. The complainants, who include some Dalit women, said they were offended by the case filed against the RJD chief, Lalu Prasad, for distributing money to party workers. The petition charged that the case "amounted to the humiliation of the Dalits."

Meanwhile, four women who received money from Mr. Prasad registered their statements before a magistrate under Section 164. They said that Mr. Prasad had merely obliged them when they had demanded money for buying sweets on his becoming the Railway Minister.

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