Hc Judges Furious Over Gowda'S Letter

HC Judges Furious Over Gowda's Letter 13 Jan 2009, 0044 hrs IST, TNN BANGALORE: Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda's obsession with the alleged irregularities in the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project reached a new high on Monday when he sent a controversial letter to Karnataka High Court judges airing his views on the issue. It was high drama behind the scenes as the judges, taken aback by the brazen action of the former PM, discussed it for about 45 minutes. The court, which was supposed to commence at 10.30 am, met at 11.15 am. "When these matters were listed today, we received a letter dated January 8 written by the former PM. The letter was enclosed with a booklet `BMIC project - A case study in fraud collision - collusion to defeat the ends of justice and defraud the courts'. I enquired with judges V G Sabhahit, Ram Mohan Reddy and N K Patil. Almost all judges said they had also received the same letter. We were embarrassed. In my 12-13 years experience, I have not encountered such a situation. Thereafter, we held a meeting to decide on how to proceed with this. We had two options: one to issue a contempt notice and the other to ignore it. We have decided to treat it as a PIL. If we had ignored it, then there was chance that people would point fingers at us. We decided to take it positively and deal with it legally. We stand as a family; We don't allow courts to become platform for politics," Chief Justice P D Dinakaran said while adjourning the BMIC case hearing pertaining to the Gottigeri land issue to February 2. The CJ also expressed his anguish on the increasing attack and criticism of the judiciary. "Let him (Gowda) come and explain himself,'' he said. Dushyant Dave, counsel for Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise, promoters of BMIC, taking exception to the letter, pressed for initiating contempt proceedings. "If an ordinary man had written such a letter, could the judiciary have taken it lightly? This is nothing but interference in the administration of justice. Nobody is special and above law,'' he said. Amid all this, advocate-general Udaya Holla told the court he would not represent the state in the BMIC case anymore. "The MD of NICE has made certain allegations against me in the media. I have decided not to represent the state in the case and Ashok Haranahalli will be officiating as special counsel in the case,'' he said. The CJ asked Holla to render assistance to court whenever necessary. Meanwhile, mystery shrouds on who hand-delivered the letter and the booklet to the CJ and the judges. A separate inquiry on the carrier of the letter was held by the court. Advocates' Association of Bangalore president D L Jagadish appeared before the court and said he had not authorized anybody to deliver the letter and booklets to the judges. The staff had said somebody claiming to be Jagadish's assistant had delivered the letter. State JD(S) spokesperson Y S V Datta admitted Gowda had sent copies of the letter and the booklet. While acknowledging having sent it, Gowda declined to comment: "I will wait for the court's notice.''

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