BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday directed the state government to submit a report on how police at their jurisdictional level are taking action, as per Section 11 of the Karnataka Prohibition of Beggary Act, 1975, for persons indulging in begging, in contravention of Section 3 of the Act.
A division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Ashok S Kinagi issued a direction while hearing a public interest litigation filed by the Letzkit Foundation in 2020, on the issue of forcing children to sell articles on streets.
The direction was issued because the state government admitted there was insufficient awareness among the police at the grass-root level, about Section 11 of the Act. It states that, “Any police officer or such other officer as may be authorised by the government, who finds any person other than a child contravening the provisions of Section 3, shall arrest the person and inform him of the grounds for such arrest, and remove him to the nearest receiving centre.”
Meanwhile, the state government informed court that the Director General and Inspector General of Police had issued a communication in December 2022 and January 2023 to the regional heads, police commissioners and SPs to create awareness about Section 11 among the police. Recording the same, the court issued direction to the state government to submit the report on implementing the communication.
The government also told court that the request by BBMP to retain a portion of the beggar cess for uplift of weaker section has been rejected. The court directed BBMP to transfer any portion of beggary cess that remained with it to the Central Relief Committee, which utilises it for Beggar Relief Centres. According to a statement filed before court, from 2008-09 till November 30, 2022, around Rs 600 crore was collected by BBMP as beggary cess. Of this, about Rs 400 crore was remitted to the Central Relief Committee. BBMP is holding Rs 200 crore collected as beggary cess.