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Karnataka govt suffers setback

With the Karnataka high court directing the State Election Commission to hold elections to the 5660 village panchayats within six weeks, the state government, which suffered a major setback, is contemplating to appeal before the Supreme Court.

A division bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhan and K R Prasad Rao directed the SEC to continue the poll process while allowing two writ petitions including one by former Karnataka Congress unit president Dharam Singh and party spokesman B K Chandrasekhar.

Soon after the court verdict was issued, Chief Minister J H Patel held a meeting with his senior colleagues.

Emerging from the meeting, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister M P Prakash told the media that the government was contemplating to challenge the direction before the Supreme Court through a special leave petition. However, a decision would be taken only after studying in depth the high court order and consulting the state advocate general.

The court had not struck down the January 29 ordinance amending the Panchayat Raj Act to make the panchayats more vibrant by increasing their size. It had, however, observed that the ordinance had nullified the mandate of the Constitution especially when the election process had began.

Opposition leaders, who had criticised postponement of the civic polls, including leader of the opposition in the assembly Mallikarjuna Kharge, said the high court directive was a 'slap on the face' for the government.

The government was also planning to introduce an amendment bill during the budget session to replace the ordinance.

UNI

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