HC Bench: Krishna Govt. scores over BJP

By M.Madan Mohan

HUBLI, JULY 4. The BJP State unit appears to be outwitted by the Krishna Government on the High Court Bench issue and the establishment of the South Western Railway Zonal Headquarters in Hubli.

The BJP has been pondering over making a move to approach the Union Government to help the party keep its promises on both the issues. However, Mr. Krishna already met the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B.Vajpayee, and sought the intervention of the Centre in the matter. The BJP delegation, which has left for Delhi, may not have anything new to tell Mr. Vajpayee on both the issues.

On the High Court Bench issue, Mr. Krishna has virtually put the onus on the BJP by invoking the States' Reorganisation Act. Under the Act, the setting up of the Bench is the responsibility of the Union Government, which should consult the Governor and the Chief Justice of the High Court before doing so.

The State Government sent a communication to the Union Law Minister, Mr. Ram Jethmalani, on July 1 reminding him of the consent given by the then Chief Justice, Mr. Justice D.M.Chandrasekhar, in 1979 for setting up the Bench in the twin cities.

The Government cannot send a fresh proposal to Centre for setting up the Bench in view of the stand of the former Chief Justice, Mr. Bhaskar Rao, based on the recommendation of the five-judge committee, which looked into the issue. The committee has stated that a High Court Bench in North Karnataka was "neither desirable nor feasible".

The BJP is now in a no-win situation in the State. If the Union Government decides to set up the Bench, the credit will go to the Chief Minister. If it does not decide so, the blame will be on the party for its inability to influence the Centre.

The BJP is also unable to find issues to criticise the State Government after the good performance of the Congress(I) in the taluk and the zilla panchayat elections.

Mr. Patil Puttappa, senior journalist and President of the Uttara Karnataka Abhivriddhi Vedike, who had criticised the successive State governments for their apathy towards North Karnataka, now has a different opinion. Mr. Puttappa, who met the Chief Minister recently, said that Mr. Krishna had done everything possible on the High Court Bench issue, and it was for the Union Government to act. He demanded that the BJP members, including the Union ministers, exert pressure on the latter.

On the issue of the setting up of the railway headquarters, the High Court has quashed the orders of the Railway Ministry for shifting the same from Bangalore to Hubli. The Chief Minister has already broached the subject to Mr. Vajpayee. The BJP is yet to meet the Prime Minister and the Railway Minister in this connection.

Why did the BJP allow the initiative to slip away from its hands on both the issues? The party is yet to recover from the defeat in the Assembly elections and the panchayat elections. Its reactions to several issues during this period have been perfunctory. The Bangalore-based party leadership made Mr. Jagadish Shettar, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, to deal with both the issues. Mr. Shettar, however, found it difficult to handle them properly.

Mr. Shettar earlier demanded the setting up of a circuit Bench. When this demand was approved by the Cabinet, he termed it as an "eyewash". In Belgaum and Gulbarga, Mr. Shettar is being criticised for his support to the demand for setting up the Bench in Hubli-Dharwad.

According to reports, Mr. Vajpayee did not know the background of the High Court Bench issue when the delegation led by the Chief Minister met him. The inaction of the BJP State unit is cited as the reason for this. Mr. Venkaiah Naidu, General Secretary in- charge of Karnataka, and Mr. Ananth Kumar, Union Minister for Tourism and Culture, were later asked to brief the Prime Minister on the issue.

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Section  : Southern States
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