No High Court relief for Upalokayukta against govt move to oust him

Upalokayukta Justice Subhash B Adi hasn’t got any relief from a division bench of the High Court against the state government’s efforts to oust him.

On Tuesday, the bench of Justices N Kumar and B Veerappa dismissed the Upalokayukta’s writ appeal against his impending ouster. It stated that since the Legislative Assembly Speaker, Kagodu Thimmappa, has admitted a motion to oust him and an inquiry is pending before an officer appointed by the Chief Justice of Karnataka, a judicial review of the matter was not permissible.

The bench said that only after the Upalokayukta’s misbehaviour was proved and the Assembly ordered his ouster as per the Karnataka Lokayukta Act could a judicial review of the matter be considered.

Judicial review
Before such an order is passed, it would be “premature” and “unwarranted” in the scheme of the statute.

Therefore, any illegality or every legality which could be the subject matter of judicial review can be interdicted only at the end of the process, the bench noted.

Justice Adi had challenged the legality of the Assembly’s motion for his ouster, saying valid reasons and sufficient grounds were not verified.

Seeking a judicial review, he contended that the motion was initiated in the Assembly even before the allegations against him were proved.

Justice Adi first moved a single bench but it dismissed his petition on the grounds that it was not maintainable. He then approached the division bench against the ruling given by the single judge.