Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)
Mangaluru, Nov 30: The state high court (HC), on Wednesday November 29, ordered the principal secretary in rural development and panchayat raj (RDPR) department to personally appear before the bench and provide explanations for violating court order. The order was passed by the single judge bench of the HC presided over by Justice Vineet Kothari relating to the department's failure to act against Belma gram panchayat and its members for their failure to accord permission for house construction although the request is legal.
The bench passed this order in a case filed by Hemanth Shetty from Deralakatte, before adjourning the hearing to December 13.
When the bench took up the hearing in the case on Wednesday, the advocate for the government said that investigation is being conducted into the cancellation of land sanctioned to the petitioner by the gram panchayat. Presenting the status report, he also said that steps would be taken against the gram panchayat after the investigation is concluded.
The bench observed that the court had ordered the department to take action against the gram panchayat and its members who have failed to stick to the constitution. It wanted to know from the advocate what does he mean by claiming to have launched an investigation against the petitioner without obeying the court order. It rejected the report presented by the government and ordered the principal secretary in RDPR department to take action against the gram panchayat forthwith and file a compliance report to the court on December 13. If the secretary is not in a position to act as per this order, it said he has to be personally present in the court to explain things.
As per the earlier order of the bench, subdivisional officer of Mangaluru, Renuka Prasad, tahsildar, Guruprasad, and panchayat development officer, B N Naveen Kumar, were present in the HC personally. They deposited Rs 50,000 each from their own funds in the court registry as per the earlier court order.
Father of the petitioner, Gangadhar Shetty, had been sanctioned five cents land by the government in Deralakatte village in 1983. Title deed was also issued for this plot. After the death of Gangadhar Shetty, the site was transferred in the name of Hemanth Shetty. Hemanth had obtained plan approval and letter to begin work in the said site in 2016 as he planned to build a new house there. But Belma gram panchayat refused to give permission to begin house construction. An appeal against this action was made to the subdivisional officer, who thereafter wrote to panchayat development officer, seeking to issue permission. Although the officer gave permission, the gram panchayat president and members did not approve the permission letter and took decision against it, saying that there are allegations from villagers. The subdivisional officer had ordered action against the panchayat for transgressing his orders but the government remained quiet after issuing show cause notice to the panchayat. The petitioner had approached court seeking action against the concerned as nothing has moved since then.