HC disposes of plea against Iftar party on its premises

The High Court on Friday disposed of the petition seeking that the permission granted by the registrar for the Iftar party organised by Advocate General (AG) Ravivarma Kumar on the premises of the High Court be withdrawn.

Hearing a PIL by city-based advocate N P Amrutesh, the division bench comprising acting Chief Justice S K Mukherjee and Justice B V Nagarathna disposed of the petition after Additional Advocate General (AAG) A S Ponnanna submitted that the Iftar party was not organised by Kumar in his capacity as AG, but in an individual capacity.

“This, being a get-together, is organised with expenses by the Advocate General and there will not be any mass prayer, but just a dinner,” he said.
The petitioner, pointing out that Iftar is a religious function, said that it should not be organised on the court premises.

“Except for functions like welcome and farewell of judges and a few judiciary seminars, there cannot be permission for any other programmes. The respondent, registrar of the High Court, without thinking of future consequences of communal disturbance or other disturbance has allowed the AG to hold the religious function, followed by mass prayer,” he said.

When the counsel for the petitioner mentioned that security of the High Court would be threatened as the event was scheduled after 6 pm, Ponnanna submitted that there is no threat to the High Court security as adequate steps have been taken in this regard.

“The AG had a constitutional obligations towards the general public. Holding Iftar party is against constitutional obligations and amounts to misuse of his official position. The party, organised for the first time, will lead to communal disturbance and give room to public criticism,” he said and sought an in-house inquiry into the permission granted.