SC stays contempt of court proceedings against Karn'tka official

New Delhi, Apr 17 (UNI) The Supreme Court today stayed till April 30, contempt of court proceedings against K M Shivakumar, Principal Secretary, Department of Commerce and Industry, Karnataka, pending in the Karnataka High Court for not complying with its order.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justice R V Raveendran and Justice D K Jain stayed the proceedings after the matter was mentioned before the Bench for urgent hearing.

The petitioner has come in appeal against the High Court order dated February 21 and April 5, 2007, ordering the framing of charges in the contempt petition against the senior bureaucrat of the state.

The High Court had directed the Principal Secretary to be present in the court. According to the petitioner, he was present in the court throughout the day and he had taken charge as the Principal Secretary on May 8, 2006. The controversy is regarding the straight alignment of the peripheral ring road instead of the earlier curved alignment near the Gottigere tank.

The High Court had directed the government not to lay any road disecting the Gottigeri tank preventing or disturbing the inflow of water into the tank. It was further ordered that in case a ring road or any other road has to be laid, it could be done by providing an overpass without disturbing the free flow of water to the tank.

UNI