Meeting turns violent, 6 injured

Six employees of the Karnataka Government Secretariat Employees’ Association (KGSEA) sustained injuries when a general body meeting convened at the Vikas Soudha turned violent Saturday afternoon.

The KGSEA has over 3,000 members including employees and office-bearers. The executive committee of the Association had not called the general body meeting for the last three years. The KGSEA has many wings including Secretariat Employees’ Association (SEA) and Secretariat Officers’ Association (SOA).

Mahadevaiah Mathapathi, a section officer with Law Ministry is the SEA president, while H Rajakumar, a section officer with Parliamentary Affairs Ministry is the secretary.

Mathapathi had convened a meeting at 2.30 pm in room number 419 at Vikas Soudha. The room can accommodate around 200 persons.

A large number of employees had turned up for the meeting. Mathapathi allegedly violated the bylaws and had not issued notice of the general body meeting. As per the bylaw, a notice needs to be issued 21 days prior to the meeting, stated the sources.

Verbal duel

The faction led by Rajakumar objected to the meeting minutes after it began. The members levelled allegations against Mathapathi and demanded audit details.

They alleged that the meeting was convened for the sake of completing formalities and to hush up violations. Mathapathi and his men reacted sharply and the verbal duel turned into a fist-fight.

The police rushed to the spot and controlled the situation. H Rajkumar lodged a complaint of an assault against Mathapathi and others. Hours later, Mathapathi lodged a counter complaint against H Rajkumar and others.