Bengaluru: Finding loopholes in the law to weaken democratic institutions seems to have become a habit for the Congress government.
The government is at it again and is yet to gazette the names of elected members, let alone announce the reservation matrix for the zilla and taluk panchayats, nearly a month after the election results were announced.
Due to this delay, as many as 1,083 elected Zilla Panchayat and 3,903 Taluk Panchayat members remain jobless since the results were announced.
The gazette notification of elected members assumes significance as the ruling party gets another month after this to announce the reservation matrix for the posts of president and vice-president of ZPs and TPs.
Although technically, elected members do not lose their five-year term, people suffer as members are unable to discharge their duties effectively until their names are gazetted.
Sources said RDPR minister H.K. Patil, who is a proponent of decentralization, has ironically thwarted the process of issuing the gazette order though he keeps making statements about his commitment to upholding of democracy. In this case, he seems to have adopted the same strategy that any ruling party would adopt.
Speaking to DC, a senior bureaucrat observed that the ruling party’s failure to strike a deal with JD(S) in some places seems to have caused a major delay in issuing the gazette notification of elected members.
"The ruling party is dilly-dallying on the issue as it is in a quandary over striking an alliance with the JD(S) at some places to win the ZP and TP posts. JD(S) leaders like H.D. Deve Gowda and party state president, H. D. Kumaraswamy are giving conflicting statements on forging an alliance with the Congress.
Therefore, the ruling party is taking its own sweet time to issue the gazette notification of elected members itself. About the reservation matrix, the less said the better," the source explained.
