Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Jun 22: "Because of the lackadaisical functioning style of government officials, a general perception that officials do not attend to work of the citizens unless bribes are paid has got deep-rooted in the minds of the general public," observed state high court on Thursday, June 21.

This observation was passed by a division bench of the high court presided over by Justice Raghvendra S Chauhan. The bench made this observation when hearing a contempt of court petition filed against Kunigal tahsildar, Nagaraj, and Mallikarjunayya of survey department. The contempt of court petition has been filed as the earlier direction passed by the high court to the assistant commissioner and tahsildar of Kunigal to conduct survey of the land belonging to Mari Gowda and three others in Kunigal taluk and fence them has not been complied with by the officials.

During the hearing, advocate for the petitioners pointed out that the said order passed by the high court during the previous hearing has not been heeded as Kunigal assistant commissioner, Shivakumar, and tahsildar, Nagaraj, have not taken any actions based on it. He also accused tahsildar, Nagaraj, of bringing pressure on the petitioners to sell the said land to a local Math.

The bench, taking serious view of the lapse, wanted to know why the order of the high court has not been complied with. It also questioned the government advocate as to why the tahsildar has been pressurizing the applicants to sell the land. The bench guessed that the tahsildar would have joined hands with the Maths authorities or alternatively, he would not have followed the high court order as the petitioners did not pay money to him. "Because of such officials, there is a general feeling among the people that government officials do not attend to work of the common people without getting paid," it said, expressing anguish. The division bench adjourned hearing in the matter after ordering Kunigal assistant commissioner, Shivakumar, and tahsildar Nagaraj, who are guilty of not obeying the high court order, to be personally present before the bench on June 26 and furnish explanation.