Contempt of court petition against K'taka CM dismissed

Bangalore, Oct 27 (UNI) The Karnataka High Court today rejected a petition seeking action against former Prime Minister and JD(S) President H D Deve Gowda and Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy for contempt of court with regard to the BMIC case.

Dismissing the petition filed by city-based Advocate A V Amarnath, a Division Bench, comprising Mr Justice Bannurmath and Mr Justice Subhash Adi, also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on the petitioner, holding that the petition was either filed with malafide intentions or to promote the cause of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise, the executors of the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor.

The Bench reiterated that it had been laid down by the court that people should not be allowed to misuse the forum of court by filing such petitions only to subserve their personal agenda.

The petitioner contended that the JD(S) had issued an advertisement in a Kannada daily on June 18 last, giving clarifications regarding certain facts and figures in connection with BMIC, when the Supreme Court had dismissed a special leave petition of the State Chief Secretary in the matter with a cost of Rs five lakhs, thus committing contempt of court.

Hearing the petitioner, the court observed that they could not find any reason which had even any remote tendency to scandalise the court. The petitioner had made the Chief Minister as a party even though there was no indication of his involvement in the advertisement. Besides, he had not made NICE a part though the company had earlier issued media statements in this regard, it said, dismissing the petition.

UNI XR GD MSJ HT2205