Court also orders issue of notice to the Joint Chief Electoral Officer and the Secretary to the Governor
The Karnataka High Court on Thursday ordered issue of notices to the five newly nominated members of the Karnataka Legislative Council on a petition questioning their nomination.
Justice Ashok B. Hinchigeri passed the order on a petition filed by the former MLA S. Rajendran.
Notice has been issued to V.S Ugrappa, K. Abdul Jabbar, Jaimala, Ivan D’Souza and Iqbal Ahmed Saradagi. The court also ordered issue of notice to the Joint Chief Electoral Officer and the Secretary to the Governor.
The petitioner has contented that Article 171(5) empowers only the Governor to nominate persons “having special knowledge or practical experience in respect of literature, science, art, co-operative movement and social service,” and none of the five newly nominated persons comes under the these special categories as they have “absolutely no special knowledge or practical experience in these fields.” Pointing out that eminent persons, having extraordinary knowledge in these fields, such as T. Chowdiah , Gubbi Veeranna, B. Jayamma, Gangubai Hangal, H. Narasimaiah, Mallikarjun Mansur and Chandrashekar Kambar, were nominated to the Upper House, the petitioner sought a direction from the court to declare that the newly nominated members were not fit to be nominated under Article 171(5).
