The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Chief Justice should not have called on Chief Minister: Nanje Gowda

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 05, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Chief Justice should not have called on Chief Minister: Nanje Gowda

Special Correspondent

`It has lowered the dignity and impendence of the judiciary'

H.N. Nanje Gowda

BANGALORE: Former Minister H.N. Nanje Gowda has criticised the meeting between Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court Cyriac Joseph and Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, and said it reflected poorly on the judiciary.

In a letter to the Chief Justice here on Thursday, he said: "It (the meeting) has lowered the dignity and independence of the judiciary and its noble tradition of keeping aloof from the executive. The Constitution has accepted the basic principle of separation of the judiciary from the executive." Mr. Kumaraswamy, soon after his meeting with the Chief Justice on Tuesday, told presspersons that the interaction was in the backdrop of a recent meeting called by Chief Justice of India Y.K. Sabharwal, where it was said meetings between Chief Justices of High Courts and Chief Ministers could help solve administrative problems in the functioning of the judiciary.

At Tuesday's meeting, which was attended by Law Minister Basavaraj Horatti, proposals of the judiciary were brought to the attention of the Government. Two other judges, the Registrar of the High Court, the Advocate General and the Secretary, Department of Law, were present.

Mr. Nanje Gowda said it was shocking that the Chief Justice was compelled to wait for over 30 minutes for the arrival of the Chief Minister at the Secretariat. He said the State was the biggest litigant in the High Court and the subordinate courts, and its executive actions were questioned by the people in courts. "Under such circumstances, was it proper on your part to have met the executive head of the State in his chambers? What you have discussed with the Chief Minister is not what is relevant. That you met him is questionable. The confidence of the people in the judiciary is undermined," Mr. Nanje Gowda said.

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