Karnataka - Bangalore   

High Court takes Home Secretary to task

BANGALORE: The Karnataka High Court on Friday once again took serious exception to the failure of the Home Secretary to file a report on the forcible occupation of a house in Cottonpet in Bangalore by the city police.

The court had, on November 30, ordered issue of show cause notice asking Home Secretary Vatsala Watsa on why action should not be initiated against her for disobeying court orders.

Justice Jawed Rahim said though he had on the last occasion specifically asked her to file a report, she had not done so.

He observed that he had first asked for a report from the police in March 2007 when the owner of a building, Dhanalakshmi Ammal, had challenged the “forced take over” of her building by the City Crime Branch (CCB), Bangalore. The petitioner said she had let out the premises to nine tenants. The son of one of the tenants, Chinnaswamy, was killed in an encounter. After the encounter, the then Inspector of Cottonpet police, along with other officials, evicted other tenants and occupied the premises. The court had taken the police to task for their action and directed the Home Secretary to file a report. When the matter came up today, the additional Government advocate said he had filed a report and also a memo from the Home Secretary urging the court to withdraw the show cause notice issued against her. Justice Jawad Rahim who perused the report and also the memo, remarked that though he had specifically directed the Home Secretary to file the report, it had been not been done so far. He adjourned further hearing on the case..

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