Activists oppose move to oust Justice Adi, plan to stage protest

www.mangaloretoday.com

Bengaluru, November 29, 2015: A group of social activists will sit on a dharna in front of the Mahtama Gandhi statue on MG Road in the City on December 1 (Tuesday) opposing the motion in the Assembly to oust Justice Subhash B Adi as Upalokayukta.

The members of Janaadhikaara Sangharsha Parishath (JSP) on Saturday said that they will stage the protest along with other like-minded groups against the move to remove Justice Adi.

“One of the charges against Justice Adi levelled by Congress MLAs, who have moved the motion, is that he admitted complaints from the jurisdiction of another Upalokayukta Justice Majage.

Had Justice Adi not acted on our complaint against Department of Public Instructions and private schools, many poor children would not have got the admission under Right to Education Act quota this year. We had approached Justice Majage with  the complaint, but he asked us to file the complaint with the Commissioner of Public Instructions. Similarly, Justice Adi has taken up several complaints pertaining to illegal advertisement hoardings, illegal slaughterhouses and BDA layouts on the lake lands in the City,’’ Adarsh R Iyer of JSP said.

According to the statistics, which are part of documents submitted to the Speaker, Justice Adi has sent 792 reports under Section 12 (3) of Lokayukta Act, recommending action against government officials.

These reports were sent in a period of two years, between March 2013 and November 2015. The State government has also passed orders on 687 reports and communicated them to the Lokayukta office. The statistics show that Justice S B Majage, between July 2010 and July 2015, had sent 1,960 reports under Section 12(3). Between February 2013 and November 2015 a total of 209 12 (3) reports have been sent to the government from the Lokayukta Justice Y Bhaskar Rao, who is presently on leave.

“The Congress government’s could be discerned from its decision not to back Justice Rao’s removal, but coming up with the proposal to oust Justice Adi. On the other, the State government is uncompromising on its choice of Justice K L Manjunath for the vacant post of Upalokayukta, despite the proposal being rejected thrice by the Governor. Does this mean there is no other eligible retired judge for the post of Upalokayukta?

The State government wants to again bring in Lokayukta Bill, which it attempted to table unsuccessfully twice in Legislature.

The proposed Bill intends to replace judicial officers of Lokayukta with IAS and KAS officers. IAS officers will dominate the Lokayukta office and they decide which officer to be punished for accepting bribe. The proposed bill also has no place for addressing complaints on maladministration,’’ another JSP member Prakash Babu said.

Adarsh R Iyer, JSP: Justice Adi has taken up several complaints pertaining to illegal advertisement hoardings, illegal slaughterhouses and BDA layouts on the lake lands in Bengaluru.