BANGALURU : Upa Lokayukta Justice Subhash B Adi returned to office on Friday evening after 18 days as the Secretariat of Speaker informed the High Court that the tenor of the communication issued by it on December 3 does not indicate that he should stop work.
Advocate General Madhusudan R Naik made this submission on behalf of the Secretariat of Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa, before Justice Anand Byrareddy, who was hearing the petition filed by Justice Adi.
Justice Byrareddy directed the high court registry to post the matter immediately after winter vacation, after asking the Advocate General to file objections.
Justice Adi had not been coming to office from November 30 after the notice of motion for his removal was admitted in the Legislative Assembly.
He challenged the impugned communication of December 3 issued by S Y Kulageri, Secretary, Legislative Assembly, who cited Section 6(14) of Karnataka Lokayukta Act that precluded the Upa Lokayukta from discharging his duties. Justice Adi also questioned the procedural lapses on the part of Speaker who is still collecting evidence to remove him, even after the petition was admitted.
In response to the submission made by Naik, Justice Byrareddy asked him why the Secretary of the Speaker cited the Section 6(14) of Lokayukta Act if the tenor of the communication did not indicate that he should not function.
Naik said Justice Adi himself stopped coming to office after the motion was adopted. “We have conveyed the legal provisions as Lokayukta registrar wants some clarification and the same is not related to the proceedings to remove him,” he said. Earlier, senior counsel B V Acharya, representing Justice Adi, said there were procedural lapses in the move to remove Justice Adi. The Speaker erred by admitting the motion though there were no charges of incapability or misbehaviour against Adi, he said.
Back At Work
Justice Adi returned to office at 3.30 pm on Friday. Later, he met the newly-appointed Upa Lokayukta Justice N Ananda.
Meanwhile, a complainant Munivenkatappa, a resident of Channigarayanapura in Malur taluk of Kolar district, paid obeisance to Justice Adi by touching his feet, seeking his intervention to save gomala land in his village.