Petition against leasing out of two City lakes

Petition against leasing out of two City lakes
DH News Service,Bangalore:

The High Court on Monday admitted a PIL against leasing of Hebbal and Agaram lakes to two private firms for development and commercial exploitation.
The petition, filed by Rudrappa, founder president of Vishwa Adhyatma Vikasa Pratishtana here, sought the Court to quash the lease agreements entered into by Lake Development Authority (LDA). Mr Rudrappa said the LDA had signed an agreement with Mumbai-based EIH Ltd for leasing out Hebbal lake and an agreement inked with Hyderabad-based Biota Natural Systems for leasing out Agaram lake.
He said the lease was not in the interest of protecting these water bodies.
The division Bench headed by Chief Justice Cyriac Joseph admitted the petition while ordering notices to State government, LDA and the firms.
Seer moves HC again
Madhusudanandapuri swami, one of the two seers claiming succession to Omkarashrama in Srinivasapura here, has again moved the High Court against the second-time appointment of official receiver of ashram properties.
The seer has sought the Court to quash proceedings besides a direction to hand over the possession of ashram properties to himself. In a petition filed on Monday, Madhusudanandapuri challenged Bangalore South sub-division assistant commissioner and sub-divisional magistrate’s order appointing jurisdictional tahsildar as receiver of ashram properties.
The hearing on seer’s petition has been posted for Tuesday.
Selection challenged
About 150 anganawadi workers appointed to the additional anganawadi centres newly set up across the State were before the High Court on Monday.
They were here in connection with a batch of petitions raised questions about the validity of anganawadi workers’ selection process.
The Court allowed them to come on record as respondents and file their statement of objections, if any, to the petitioners’ contentions. The Court scheduled the hearing of the case to December 17.
Writ petitions filed by T J Manjamma of Attuppe village, K R Pet taluk, Mandya district and several other unsuccessful aspirants to anganawadi workers’ posts, have challenged selections carried out by the State government through taluk-level selection committees across 40 taluks of the State.
Ensure regular pay
The High Court asked the government to ensure regular payment of salaries to anganawadi workers appointed to additional anganawadi centres.