Flouting rules appears to have become the order of the day. And, even the Supreme Court orders are ignored when political parties in power decide to hold their rallies.

In less than a day, the JD(S) got the required sanctions from the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) for its executive meeting held at Gayathri Vihar of Bangalore Palace Grounds on October 4.

At this meeting, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda and his son and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy had gone hammer and tongs on their coalition partner BJP. As per paragraph 11 of the Supreme Court ruling passed on January 25, 2001: ‘The application for the permission sought for, shall be made at least one month prior to the proposed date of commencement of the use.’

Quick permission

The JD(S) had made the application only on late evening on September 29 seeking permission for the use of the ground. Interestingly, the next morning, the officials concerned granted the necessary permission and an official from the department was deputed to hand over the letter personally to the party office.

Deccan Herald is in possession of a copy of the sanctioned letter -- ref no DPAR 338 PSR 2007, signed by M Vasudeva Murthy, Under Secretary to the government DPAR (Services-3). When Deccan Herald contacted the department for comments, an official, who did not want to be named, said, “When men in power decide to violate the rule, what can we do….”

Organisers angry

The authorities overlooking rules for the JD(S) has left the development event managers and other organisers angry.

“We are tormented for months by the officials concerned to grant permission. Several agencies like traffic, pollution and BBMP want their permission to be taken. We have to wait anxiously after investing crores of rupees. But political parties hoodwink officials. Do we call this democracy,” a CEO of a leading event management firm asked.

The Palace Ground owners, the Maharaja and his sisters were not available for comment.