Bengaluru, Sep 28 (IANS): Social activist and a petitioner in the MUDA case, T.J. Abraham has submitted to the Advocate General of Karnataka, a petition seeking consent for initiating contempt proceedings against Minister for Housing Zameer Ahmed Khan for dubbing the court order in the MUDA case as ‘political judgment’.
Abraham is the President of the Anti-Graft/Corruption and Environmental Forum besides being one of the three petitioners in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) case.
He said on Saturday, “Now it’s going to be a litmus test for the Advocate General to decide, whether to uphold the dignity of the High Court and defend the integrity of the High Court Judge who passed the order, or, to defend the Minister in the government of Karnataka, who has issued a contemptuous statement against the High Court order and the Judge who passed the order.”
Abraham has stated in his complaint that Minister Zameer has committed an offence under Section 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act 1971 and therefore the consent is sought under Section 15 (1)(b) of the Contempt of Courts Act.
Minister Zameer while addressing the media on September 26 after the judgment by the Karnataka High Court in connection with the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) case said, "It was a political judgment".
“Minister Zameer has intentionally vilified and belittled the judiciary and has termed the judgment given by the court as ‘political judgment’. Minister Zameer has deliberately offended and disrespected the authority and dignity of the High Court of Karnataka by dragging down and sarcastically equating and characterizing the order of the High Court as ‘political judgment’," he stated.
"The statement is apparently a denigrating insinuation aimed at lowering and insulting the High Court of Karnataka. The contemptuous statement that the order of the High Court is a ‘political judgment’ is aimed at demeaning and disrespecting the court's business or disrespecting the authority of the court," the complaint mentioned.
The contemptuous conduct and insolent behaviour of Minister Zameer towards the judgement rendered by the High Court of Karnataka if not acted upon will have a cascading effect of diminishing the court's authority in the eyes of the common man, Abraham maintained.
It is apparent that Zameer has attempted to deliberately malign the integrity of the presiding officer, who has rendered the judgement, in an attempt to place the High Court of Karnataka in a negative shade before the general public, Abraham stated.
"If Minister Zameer is not hauled up for contempt of the court, for terming the judgement given by the High Court as political judgement and it will also be defeating the object of vindicating the dignity of the court or the person of the judge, so as to ensure that every litigant in a court of justice has an assurance of a fair and unprejudiced hearing at the trial on the merits of his case... Let me remind the Advocate General that his basic commitment has to be to the Courts, as an Advocate and an officer of the Court, only after that he can show his commitment to the government, which has proposed his appointment to the post of the Advocate General,” Abraham stated.
“I am very hopeful that the Advocate General who hails from a family of the legal fraternity will definitely grant approval of my request/ application to initiate criminal proceedings, before the Hon’ble High Court of Karnataka, against Zameer Ahmed Khan forthwith, without any delay, in the interest of upholding the High esteem of the High Court and defending the integrity of the Hon’ble Judge too,” Abraham maintained.
The High Court bench headed by Justice M. Nagaprasanna upheld the decision of Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot in the MUDA case. The Governor has sanctioned the prosecution of CM Siddaramaiah in a case of alleged corruption in the allotment of land to his wife by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), saying that a “neutral, objective and non-partisan investigation should be conducted”.