HC Upholds DC’s Order Disqualifying Puttur Councillors
Puttur: Six members of the Puttur city municipal council (CMC) had violated the party whip to vote for the official candidate for the posts of president and vice president in the last election.
On the basis of a complaint from councillor H Muhammed Ali, district’s deputy commissioner and the executive magistrate had disqualified the membership of six councillors.
They are Nellikatte Jagadish Shetty, Naveenchandra Naik, Seema Gangadhar, Rekha Yashodhar, Deeksha Pai and Kamala Anand.
These six appealed to the state high court, which, after hearing the case, upheld the DC’s order. They went in higher appeal to a division bench. A stay was placed on the election until the case was heard.
The division bench too has upheld the DC’s order and dismissed the petition. While Muhammed Ali has expressed satisfaction over the ruling which has vindicated his original appeal, Jagadish Shetty and others said that they would soon decide about their future course of action.
Legal experts said the only recourse left for Shetty and his group is filing an appeal in the supreme court. Whether their membership would be kept valid until the case is disposed of is a different question which has no answer now.
In the prevailing circumstances, Shetty’s group may be forced to stay out of the process of the election to the posts of president and vice president which has been cleared by the high court’s rejection of their appeal.