BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday directed the authorities working under the Chief Secretary, not to take any adverse action against the two journalists Ravi Belagere and Anil Raj to implement the resolution passed by the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, until further orders.
It has come as a big relief to the editors Belagere and Raj. The Assembly, in its session in June, had convicted the journalists and imposed a one-year sentence and `10,000 fine each for alleged breach of privilege through articles published by the two.
The government is said to have issued directions for the arrest of the journalists after the conviction was confirmed in the session. Hence, they moved the high court, contending that the resolution passed by the Assembly is unconstitutional and without authority of law. The conviction was confirmed without giving them a chance to defend, hence it’s is illegal, they claimed. On hearing the petitions filed by the duo, Justice A S Bopanna passed an interim order restraining the authorities from taking adverse action against the journalists based on the resolution and adjourned the matter for four weeks.
The Assembly, on June 21, 2017, had adopted the recommendations of the committee of privileges to imprison and fine the two journalists. The committee had examined the alleged defamatory articles against three legislators including K B Koliwad, B M Nagaraj (both Congress) and BJP MLA S R Vishwanath. In the last session, only three MLAs argued in favour of reconsidering the sentence, while all the other legislators had supported the conviction.
BBMP told to provide info on major flyovers
Bengaluru: The High Court on Wednesday asked the BBMP to provide details of gradient and height of major flyovers in the city. The division bench of acting Chief Justice H G Ramesh and Justice P S Dinesh Kumar issued this direction while hearing a PIL challenging the construction of steel flyover at Shivananda Circle. This direction was issued after the counsel of the petitioners, who are local residents, raised the objection with regard to the height and gradient the flyover in question in the interest of safety of commuters.