JD(S) FLOUTS SC ORDER

JD(S) FLOUTS SC ORDER
BY BALA CHAUHAN
BENGALURU







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Indifferent to the havoc the party’s Kayakalpa convention wreaked on Bengaluru on Monday, the Janata Dal (Secular) on Tuesday called the owners of Palace Grounds on Tuesday to thank them for the success of the hugely attended convention on the occasion of H.D. Kumaraswamy’s coronation as president of the state unit of the JD(S).

Former PWD minister H.D. Revanna reportedly called the members of the former royal family of Mysore on Tuesday to thank them for their cooperation. Palace Grounds, he said was auspicious for the JD(S), especially Mr Kumaraswamy, which is why they had chosen the venue.

A decision on the ownership of Palace Grounds, in a case contested by the government and the former royal family of Mysore, is pending with the SC. The party not only held the city to ransom for 10 hours on Monday but also blatantly flouted the Supreme Court order on the issue of taking permission to hold the event in the disputed Palace Grounds.

According to the court order dated January 25, 2001, the apex court observed that the application for permission to hold an event in Palace Grounds should be made “at least one month prior to the proposed date of commencement” of use. “After consideration of each case on merit, the government may grant permission or decline to if in its opinion such use is not to be permitted in the interest of preserving the heritage of the property and ecological considerations,” the SC directed.

The JD(S) overlooked the apex court directive on the minimum time period for the permission and “under direction from former prime minister Deve Gowda” asked the ‘owner’ of the disputed property, Indrakashi Devi, daughter of the erstwhile Mysore Maharaja, 14 days ago of the party could use the ground for the convention.

The JD(S) did not also mention the number of people they were expecting in the rally.

The letter was sub mitted to the department of personnel and administrative reforms (DPAR) for permission on November 4; the goahead came through on Friday. The column stating the “number of people expected” was left blank on the application.

Apart from using Ms Devi’s land, the JD(S) even managed to get “permission” to park the vehicles for the rally in the portion of Palace Grounds owned by the scion of the former Mysore Maharaja, Srikantdutta Narasimharaja Wodeyar, from the DPAR within 12 hours.

They allegedly sent a letter to the office of Mr Wodeyar on November 15 and got an acknowledgement from his office and submitted it to the DPAR. The permission came the same evening.

When Deccan Chronicle asked Mr Wodeyar about granting permission to the JD(S) to hold its convention in Palace Grounds, he said, “All political parties have been using the site to hold rallies and conventions.” I left the Sadashivnagar store at 5.30 pm and reached my home in Kalyan nagar at 11 in the night. Everyone at home was worried. While on the road I saw small children who were returning from school asking for biscuits to eat. It was a pathetic sight.

G. Ravindranath, Maintenance Manager, From around 12.30 am the traffic pile-up started and there was utter chaos till about 9.30 pm on Sankey Road. People did not know what to do. Many of them came to my shop to ask for water and food. The public will punish JD (S) for this.

Hemanth Kumar, shop owner I lost Rs 30,000 because of the chaos caused by yesterday’s rally. I was supposed to take a flight at 6.50 pm and left home at 3 pm. Yet, I missed my flight. The entire stretch near Mekhri Circle had neck-to-neck traffic. I saw schoolchildren stranded in their school buses for hours.

Bharath Chopra, student I stay in R.T. Nagar and I walked from Shivaji Nagar till there. There were buses lined up on one side of the road near Palace Grounds. Walking on the footpath was also a nightmare as there were hundreds of people from outside the city who had been called in for the rally. Why couldn't it be held in the outskirts, like Yelahanka or Kengeri?