The high court on Friday issued notices to Upa Lokayukta Justice Chandrashekaraiah, the state government and chief minister concerning the public interest litigations (PILs) questioning the appointment of Chandrashekaraiah as Upa Lokayukta.
The PILs were filed by advocates M Anand and Janekere C Krishna in the high court, challenging the appointment.
They contended that the appointment of Justice Chandrashekaraiah was illegal and this had been done without consulting the chief justice. Hence, the appointment should be stayed.
The petitioners contended that the procedure under Section 3 (2) (b) of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act, 1984, was sacrosanct and that consultation with the chief justice of Karnataka should have primacy.
They said Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen had written to chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda last week, noting Justice Chandrashekaraiah was appointed without consulting him according to Section 3 (2) (b) of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act, 1984.
While the petitioners pressed for an interim stay on the appointment of Justice Chandrashekaraiah, advocate general S Vijay Shankar submitted before the court that the question of granting interim order of stay on the appointment would not be proper since he had already taken charge.
The division bench then granted a week’s time to submit the arguments.
The case was adjourned to February 27.
The petitioners pointed out that Justice (Retd) MF Saldanha had submitted a letter to governor HR Bhardwaj, saying Justice Chandrashekaraiah did not have a clean record.
In the letter, Justice Saldanha alleged that Justice Chandrashekaraiah was involved in the Roost Resort sex scandal.
He also cited a case where Justice Chandrashekaraiah was beaten up by a schoolmaster, who accused the judge of siding with the accused.
The petitioners said the post of Upa Lokayukta is important as it is expected to bring in probity in public life and improve
standards of public administration and entertain complaints against administrative actions including corruption, favouritism and official indiscipline.
A division bench headed by Justice N Kumar issued notices to Upa Lokayukta Justice Chandrashekaraiah, the state government and the chief minister on Friday.
