HC sets aside order on Haveri ZP

G N BIRASAL / TNN / Sep 27, 2006, 22:27 IST

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The Karnataka High Court has set aside a government order quashing the formation of various standing committees.

HAVERI: In a victory of sorts for the Haveri Zilla Panchayat, the Karnataka High Court has set aside a government order quashing the formation of various standing committees.
The High Court, in its order dated September 13, advised the CEO to take action within two weeks. Thus, the power play going on within the ZP takes a new turn, with the majority Congress gaining the upper hand, but development continues to suffer.
Here is the gist of the story: The Zilla Panchayat, which has a Congress majority, is failing to function to its full potential as the ruling BJP-JD(S) coalition government is interfering in issues like validating appointments made for various standing committees.
This issue is before the court of law. Haveri ZP president Shabinabi Agadi and her deputy S S Ramalingannavar had constituted standing committees in April, which was objected to by the JD(S) and BJP members.

ZP officials, following rules from above, set aside the resolution passed by the ZP in July. The rural development and panchayat raj (RDPR) department secretary also instructed the ZP to constitute the standing committees afresh by the end of October.
This government order, dated July 24, 2006, was challenged in the Karnataka High Court by the ZP president. At the first meeting held on February 22, ZP members had authorised the president and vicepresident to constitute the standing committees, which were formed on March 31.

Some JD(S) and BJP members opposed the manner in which the committees were formed. It is learnt that, yielding to pressure by non-Congress ZP members and MLAs, the chief executive officer sent a report to the government on May 3.
Based on that, the government on July 24 set aside the resolution passed by the ZP and directed that the committees be formed afresh.
As per section 197(2) of the Act, the CEO must participate in the discussions at ZP meetings and tackle inconsistencies in keeping with rules and regulations.
Former minister K B Koliwad told reporters that the ZP resolutions have not been touched by the High Court, which has observed that the government order is illegal and has set it aside.
Hence, the resolutions by the ZP are automatically held valid. With this battle going on, the functioning of the standing committees has come to a standstill.
ZP president Shabinabi Agadi has directed the CEO to call meetings of the standing committees immediately, and everybody is waiting to see what happens. When contacted, the ZP staff said that they had not received the court order, and would react after going through it.

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