Bengaluru: Tamil speaking voters, who account for more than 20 per cent of Bengaluru’s population, who could make or mar the prospects of Congress in forthcoming BBMP polls, evidently forced the state government to defer its decision to appeal in the Supreme Court against acquittal of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa by the high court.
Official sources said the cabinet, which met on Monday, also decided to seek the opinion of central leaders of Congress before going ahead with its appeal well before the three-month deadline to make such a move.
Sources said some clarifications were also sought from the Advocate General (AG) who was away on tour and therefore did not figure in the meeting of the cabinet though the Advocate General, the Special Public Prosecutor Mr B V Acharya, and the law department was in favour of moving the apex court. Even Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was interested in filing an appeal, but was prevailed upon by Bengaluru city MLAs who were apprehensive that such a move could hurt the party in BBMP polls.
Meanwhile, KPCC legal cell felt that the government should restrain from going on appeal, as the issue did not concern Karnataka. Some Bengaluru MLAs also approached KPCC president Dr G Parameshwar and sought his intervention.
Sanction for prosecuting cops declined
Meanwhile, the cabinet declined to accord sanction for permission sought by the CBI to prosecute some police officers in connection with the clash between advocates and journalists in 2012.
While a local court was hearing a case concerning former minister and mine lord Mr G Janardhan Reddy near City Civil and Session Court complex, a fight broke out between advocates and journalists. Later, advocates filed complaint against two IPS officers - Mr B R Ravikanthe Gowda and Mr G R Ramesh, along with Ulsoorgate ACP Mr Gacchinakatti. The CBI, which had filed charge sheet against these three officers, sought the state government’s sanction for permission to prosecute them.
BU Trifurcation
Meanwhile, the cabinet gave its consent for trifurcation of Bengaluru University. The cabinet decided to make Assembly constituency as one unit for dividing the university. Assembly constituencies coming under Ramanagar district, constituencies in Bengaluru (South) like Padmanabhanagar, Bommanahalli, R R Nagar, Vijayanagar, Anekal, Yeshwanthpur, Dasarahalli, Mico layout, Govindarajnagar and Nelamangala would come under Bengaluru (South) University, located in Jnanabharathi campus.
The other constituencies like Byatarayanapura, Yelahanka, Hebbal, Shivajinagar, Chamarajpet, Chickpet, Basavanagudi, BTM layout, Gandhinagar and Rajajinagar would come under Bengaluru (Central) University, located in Central College campus.
CET: The cabinet has made an amendment for starting the admission process to professional colleges. It decided to continue with consensus agreement as in previous years, and made the amendment that it would be part of Professional Colleges Admission Bill, 2006.
Though the fee structure was not discussed, the ratio in private unaided medical colleges was maintained at 40:60, while that for dental college the ratio would be 35:65. For engineering colleges, the ratio has been fixed at 45:55 per cent, while NRI quota was fixed at 20 per cent, sources added.
