Congress legislators divided on Justice Adi’s removal?

Bengaluru: The ruling Congress legislators seem to be divided on the issue of removal of Upa Lokayukta Justice Subhas Adi on the charges of 'misconduct' and 'misbehavior' after moving a motion in the recently concluded session of the State Assembly.

A few legislators to whom Deccan Chronicle spoke, felt that it was an 'unwarranted' move by the Congress party as there was lack of evidence to prove that Justice Adi had committed a mistake. Some of the legislators are reportedly putting pressure on the movers of the motion to withdraw it when the Assembly meets the next time in order to avoid any kind of embarrassment from the high court.

Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa has sought more documents from the petitioners of the motion to substantiate the charges made against Justice Adi which will be scrutinized by chief justice of Karnataka High Court before he takes a decision whether to refer it to a committee of judges. In the wake of this, the Speaker is said to be treading cautiously by consulting the advocate general as well as going through documents provided by a few legislators before sending it to the CJ. According to Mr Kagodu, the motion has been moved but not admitted. It would be admitted only after he satisfies himself that there is enough evidence to take the case further.

A Congress legislator felt the Speaker, after verifying documents provided by the movers of motion, should have given a verdict that the motion had been rejected due to lack of evidence to fix Justice Adi. Interestingly, in the amended Lokayukta Act, which is akin to the Removal of Judges Act, there is no mention of how many days a motion can be kept pending. In a way it is a catch-22 situation for Mr Kagodu as he cannot proceed further without obtaining necessary documents from the motion movers and he cannot keep it pending for a long time. "I went through the petition only after signing the petition and found no concrete evidence to prove that Justice Adi had misused his office. I have cheated my conscience", he reportedly said.