The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday ordered notice to the Chief Secretary in connection with a PIL seeking to disqualify 284 members of Zilla Panchayats (ZPs) in the Bangalore division for not declaring their assets and liabilities in the prescribed time.
Hearing a petition by V Shashidhar, president of the Police Mahasangha, the division bench comprising Justice K L Manjunath and Justice A V Chandrashekar, ordered the notice, after the counsel for the petitioners filed an impleading application to implead the Chief Secretary in the matter.
The petitioner had stated that out of 285 members of Bangalore Urban, Bangalore Rural, Chikkaballapur, Kolar and Tumkur ZPs, only one member had submitted the list of assets and liabilities within the given time, but that others had violated the rules. He further submitted that they were asked to submit the details on or before January 31.The petitioner further submitted that it is mandatory for members to declare their assets and liabilities under the Karnataka Panchayath Raj Act 1993 also known as Karnataka Panchayath Raj Rules 2010.
He further submitted that despite bringing this to his notice, the regional commissioner failed to initiate any action against Zilla Panchayath members who have not submitted their assets and liabilities and sought to disqualify them.
Verdict reserved
The High Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict in connection with a petition by liquor baron Vijay Mallya challenging the criminal proceedings initiated by Special Economic Offences Court for not paying the amount collected via tax deducted at source (TDS) for the employees of Kingfisher Airlines.
Justice H N Nagmohan Das, who heard the matter, reserved the verdict. Kingfisher Airlines was supposed to pay Rs 366.6 crore in TDS.
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