Karnataka High Court dismisses NGO’s plea against Lokayukta

BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Monday dismissed a petition filed by Janadhikara Sangharsha Parishath, an NGO, against the Karnataka Lokayukta which had rejected its complaint against 78 MLAs. These MLAs had moved an impeachment motion against Upa Lokayukta Justice Subhash B Adi. A division bench, headed by Justice H G Ramesh, said the order passed by the Lokayukta cannot be held as erroneous. Adarsh R Iyer and B K Prakash Babu, co-presidents of the forum, filed the petition dated June 20, 2016, before the Lokayukta against 78 MLAs under Section 17(2) of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act, for intentional insult and bringing disrepute to Upa Lokayukta Justice Subhash B Adi. The Lokayukta passed the order dated August 24, 2017, stating that the complaint was held to be not maintainable with the reason that only the aggrieved person can file this complaint. As per this order, Upa Lokayukta Justice Adi is the only person who is aggrieved and who is eligible to file this complaint.The petitioners contended that the impeachment motion by the 78 MLAs was not merely an attack on the Upa Lokayukta as an individual but a malicious attempt to undermine the entire institution of the Lokayukta and deprive aggrieved citizens of the state of Karnataka from seeking remedy for their grievances against corrupt public officials. A sitting judge of the Karnataka High Court has exonerated the charges levelled against the Upa Lokayukta after a detailed enquiry. HC rejects rape victim’s application Interlocutory applications (IAs) filed by a rape victim and Lenin, former disciple of self-styled godman Nithyananda, were rejected by the High Court on Monday. The duo had filed these pleas to the criminal revision petition filed by Nithyananda and other accused against the rejection of their discharge applications by a trial court in Ramanagar on February 19, 2018. Before the trial court, Nithyananda, who is facing charges of rape, and other accused have pleaded to discharge them from the criminal proceedings. The court rejected it and proceeded to frame charges against them. Therefore, Nithyananda and co-accused filed the criminal revision petition. While dismissing the IAs seeking implead them as parties in the case, Justice R B Budihal said the applicants may be assist the prosecution in the matter and cannot be impleaded. This was after the counsel of Nithyananda submitted that the IAs were filed to create hurdles for trial. Nithyananda is facing charges of hurting religious sentiments, rape, unnatural sex, cheating, and criminal intimidation. The CID had filed a chargesheet against him and he is out on bail now. Source: Indian Express