BENGALURU: With the High Court taking serious exception to inaction by Deputy Commissioners, Assistant Commissioners and tahsildars in conducting quasi-judicial proceedings to decide the pending cases before them, the revenue department has issued a circular asking them to conduct minimum 2-3 sittings in a week and dispose of cases expeditiously.
A copy of the circular was submitted to the court of Justice A N Venugopala Gowda by the government’s counsel on Wednesday. This was after Justice Gowda pulled up the state government during the hearing of a case where the Deputy Commissioner of Tumakuru did not conduct judicial proceedings for nearly three months.
Advocate Jagadish Shastry, representing petitioner Basavaraju, drew the attention of the court on the inordinate delay on the part of the DC.
In the circular issued on August 20, E V Ramana Reddy, Principal Secretary, Revenue Department, explained the concerns raised by the court regarding the difficulties faced by litigants as no sittings were conducted.
“The matter has come to the notice of the High Court that the deputy commissioner did not conduct even a single sitting in the last two years in a case. Some cases were adjourned for long periods without giving any reason”, Reddy said.
He added that the DC, AC and tahsildars should conduct sittings at least two-three times in a week regularly and dispose of cases fast. The authorities are also asked to avoid delaying the cases without valid reason.