BENGALURU: The Cabinet on Monday decided to drop 175 cases against people who allegedly held violent demonstrations under the banner of the Popular Front of India (PFI) and the Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD).
The cases relate to communal clashes since 2009 in Mysuru, Hassan and Shivamogga, in which the police had arraigned more than 1,600 people.
Law Minister T B Jayachandra announced the decision to the media during a briefing about a Cabinet meeting earlier in the day. “It was taken against the advice of the Law Department,” he admitted.
On April 1, 2009, a group allegedly instigated a communal clash following reports of a pig being let into a prayer hall in Mysuru. Cases relating to that clash were being heard in local courts for six years.
Defending the Cabinet decision, Jayachandra said most people facing trial were innocent. “Barring two cases involving murder, all 40 cases will be closed,” he said.
Similarly, in 2011, many were in the dock for gathering and disrupting traffic near Columbia Asia Hospital in Mysuru. The government has decided to drop all charges in that case as well.
Jayachandra said the government had also decided to drop 114 cases in Shivamogga and 21 in Hassan in connection with protests against the publication of a translated Taslima Nasreen article in a Kannada daily.
Hiring Docs
The Cabinet also relaxed rules on the recruitment of doctors, who can now be hired directly by the Health Department.
The idea is to cut delays as the regular procedure, of doctors being appointed through the Karnataka Public Service Commission, takes time.
Jayachandra said draft rules had been approved, and fresh recruitment would be completed within two months.
The Health and Family Welfare Department can now hire 983 specialist doctors against 1,107 vacancies, 339 MBBS doctors against 559 vacancies, and 87 dentists against 132 vacancies, he said.
Rural Varsity
The Cabinet also approved setting up a Rural Development and Panchayat Raj University in Gadag, on a campus spread over 196 acres.
The government decided to release RS 200 crore for the university, which will function under the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department.