Logjam over Manippady report may hit Council proceedings

Govt not tabling full report as it names Congress leaders: BJP

 The Legislative Council is likely to witness a deadlock between the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP from Monday, with the formernot being enthusiastic to table the full report of the Karnataka State Minority Commission on wakf properties in the House.

The BJP has been demanding that the government table the report submitted by the commission headed by its then chairman Anwar Manippady in March 2012.

The party has been accusing the government of shying away from tabling the full report as it names several Congress leaders for encroaching wakf land.

The government has been dilly-dallying in tabling the full report despite three rulings by Council Chairman D H Shankaramurthy, a direction by the Karnataka High Court and also recommendation of the privileges committee of the Council.

When contacted by Deccan Herald on Saturday, Law Minister T B Jayachandra said, “The chair has given the ruling and we have complied with the same. As per the provisions of the Karnataka Minority Commission Act, 1994, the government has to table the recommendations of the commission along with the action taken report (ATR). We have complied with it.”

The government had tabled the recommendations along with the ATR on March 5. Most of the recommendations made by the commission, including that irregularities in the State Wakf Board be handed over to the Lokayukta for investigation, had been rejected by government.

To the BJP’s demand that the full report be tabled, Jayachandra said, “We will discuss it in the House. We can explain our stand”.

However, the BJP is not buying the government’s argument. “We will not allow the House to function till the government tables all the documents. The government should be committed to respect the Chair’s ruling,” said BJP MLC G Madhusudan.

Madhusudan said the High Court had also initiated contempt of court proceedings against the government represented by its chief secretary and principal secretary, minority welfare, for not complying with its direction that the commission report be tabled in the House. He said the case was coming up for hearing on March 28.

He accused senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge of meeting Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday to impress upon him not to table the full report. It is learnt that the chairman is in touch with constitutional experts to seek their opinion to find a solution to the imbroglio.

Kharge, Sharief named: Privileges panel

As per the annexure of the privileges committee report of the Legislative Council headed by BJP MLC G Madhusudan, following are the Congress leaders accused of encroaching wakf properties in the report of the Karnataka State Minority Commission:

Mallikarjun Kharge, Dharam Singh, C K Jaffer Sharief, Rehman Khan, C M Ibrahim, N A Haris, Iqbal Ahmed Saradgi among others. It also names Qamarul Islam and Roshan Baig (both ministers in Siddaramaiah Cabinet).

Replying to queries from reporters on his name being in the report and whether he discussed the Manippady report with the chief minister, Kharge said, “The law is the same for everybody. It is up to the government to take its next step of action. I have not spoken to anybody regarding this.”