The Hindu : Karnataka News : Chief Minister hauled up over failure to transfer `tainted' official

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka

Chief Minister hauled up over failure to transfer `tainted' official

Staff Reporter

High courtround-up

BANGALORE: The Karnataka High Court on Monday observed that every action of the State, the Chief Minister and his colleagues ought to be in public interest and there should be probity in their functioning. It took them to task for their adamant attitude in not transferring an official facing charges of misappropriation of funds.

A Division Bench comprising the Chief Justice, Nauvdip Kumar Sodhi, and Justice B. Padmaraj made this observation while disposing a public interest litigation petition by K.S. Suryanarayana, a former Municipal Commissioner of Kolar, praying for quashing the July 12, 2004 Government Order transferring Hanumanthappa, Commissioner of Bidar CMC, as the Commissioner of Kolar CMC.

The petitioner said Mr. Hanumanthappa had worked as the Kolar Commissioner till September 23, 1996 and again from September 9, 1998 to August 4, 2001. He alleged that the Lokayukta had found several irregularities when Mr. Hanumanthappa was working in Kolar. Moreover, the Kolar Deputy Commissioner had taken steps to file a police complaint against Mr. Hanumanthappa and a criminal case was pending against him before a Kolar court.

Suspension ordered

The High Court had admitted the petition and had on March 28 ordered issue of notices to the Chief Minister and the Agriculture Minister and asked them to file their responses. The court had also directed that Mr. Hanumanthappa be placed under suspension.

The court said it was making certain observations considering the fact that though a criminal case had been registered against Mr. Hanumanthappa in March 2003, not much progress seemed to have been made. It hoped that the departmental proceedings against Mr. Hanumanthappa would be expedited.

It observed that the criminal case was still in the investigation stage and some of the witnesses likely to depose were from the same office of Mr. Hanumanthappa and even the records were in that office. In this situation, it was not at all proper to transfer and post Mr. Hanunmanthappa back to Kolar. The explanations for this action by the respondents were not convincing. It said there were more than 100 municipal councils in the State and the Government could have posted him anywhere. "But the Government seems to be adamant to retain him only at Kolar, presumably to enable him to destroy evidence. It is true that the Chief Minister, on receipt of the High Court order of March 28, placed Mr. Hanumanthappa under suspension, but by that time the damage may have been done because he remained posted there for almost a year."

No public interest

The court said it was satisfied that Mr. Hanumanthappa was transferred for reasons other than public interest. "It must be realised that howsoever high a person may be administratively or politically, he has no business to interfere in other departments with which he is not concerned. In the discharge of his official duties, much less with the postings and transfer of employees, the Agriculture Minister had nothing to do with the Department of Urban Development, which was the controlling department of Mr. Hanumanthappa. When he was posted to Bidar, the Minister had no business to request the Chief Minister to transfer him back to Kolar."

Serious charges

It said the request obviously was motivated by political consideration and the Chief Minister should not have mechanically passed the order. It said the Chief Minister must have gone through the file and found that there were serious charges against Mr. Hanumanthappa. The Chief Minister should have realised that the transfer was not in public interest and the petitioner was not wrong in saying that Mr. Hanumanthappa was being protected by the Government.

The court said it would normally not interfere with transfer orders and it would have closed the case had the Government agreed to transfer Mr. Hanumanthappa to any place other than Kolar. Despite three adjournments granted at the request of the Government advocate to enable him to seek Mr. Hanumanthappa's transfer elsewhere, he could not get it done and wanted the case to be decided on merit.

It said the Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, should have realised that the Secretary of the Urban Development Department and the Chief Secretary had recommended Mr. Hanumanthappa's suspension and it had been approved by the previous Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna.

The court said it was not suggesting that a Chief Minister could not overrule the Chief Secretary or any other official, but by doing so, there had to be some good reason which should appear discernable. "No such reasons appear to be there. On the other hand, the Chief Minister admits that he had transferred the official on the request of his Cabinet colleague. This is not the way the Government should function. It cannot be run like a private estate."

`Conduct fair probe'

It said employees are posted or transferred only for administrative reasons and according to exigencies of service and not for extraneous and political pressure. It hoped that the Chief Minister would direct the officials to conduct a fair and proper investigation and submit a report to the Government not later than August 31, 2005.

Notices

The High Court on Monday ordered issue of notices to the State Government and the State Election Commission on a petition by Yatish Kumar of Somwarpet in Kodagu district challenging the reservation of seats in zilla and taluk panchayats for the coming elections.

The petitioner said the May 16 and May 25 Government notifications fixing the quota for various categories in zilla and taluk panchayats were illegal and arbitrary. It urged the court to strike down the notifications.

Justice Rammohan Reddy adjourned to Thursday for further hearing of the matter.

Adjourned

Justice K.L. Manjunath on Monday posted to Tuesday a petition by Flying Officer Anjali Gupta seeking quashing of the court martial proceedings by the Indian Air Force against her. She said the proceedings were flawed and illegal.

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