HC seeks transcripts of Assembly proceedings in Justice Adi case

The High Court on Friday directed the Advocate General and the Secretary of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly to submit transcripts, documents and website server details with regard to proceedings initiated against Upalokayukta Justice Subhash B Adi by the Assembly. 

Justice Raghavendra S Chauhan passed an order seeking clarification over the alleged tampering of the web-post in the Karnataka Assembly website and sought details of records on the web server to be submitted on February 10.

Senior counsel BV Acharya appearing for Justice Adi contended that when the proceedings of the Assembly were posted on the website, it said that the motion was admitted. However, later, changes were made.

Advocate General Madhusudan R Naik contended that the motion was never ‘admitted’ and that there was commotion in the Assembly and the stenographer had only left spaces to indicate commotion in the Assembly.

On November 27, 2015, Tanveer Sait and 78 other MLAs initiated a motion to oust Justice Adi from his post. The AG argued that there was a note made by the Speaker that necessary steps will be taken with regard to the motion moved against Justice Adi in accordance with the Lokayukta Act.

Justice Adi has challenged the legality of the motion adopted by the Assembly before verifying valid reasons and sufficient grounds for his ouster. The bench directed the AG and Secretary of the Legislative Assembly to furnish transcripts of the proceedings in the assembly in the next hearing on February 10.

Prosecution sanction
The High Court on Friday directed the chief secretary, additional chief secretary and secretaries of all departments to submit a report on action taken on an application given by the Lokayukta for prosecution sanction order (PSO).

Justice A N Venugopala Gowda passed an order while seeking details about the pending vacancies and cases in the Lokayukta. The bench sought to know why there was a delay in setting up courts when the government in a recent Cabinet decision had approved adding 205 of the pending 60 courts. The bench asked the government how it would fight corruption if 41 percent of posts in the Lokayukta are vacant. The government counsel submitted that they would fill 205 posts soon and would also set up courts that have been sanctioned. The bench directed the state government to submit the action-taken report during the next hearing on February 8.