Karnataka HC Orders DCS To Appear In Court For False Info On Burial Grounds

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday directed the presence of the Deputy Commissioners of districts, who provided false information regarding provision of land for burial grounds in all villages. 

The court is hearing a civil contempt petition filed by one Mohammed Iqbal, whos plea has claimed that the state government failed to act upon the 2019 order of the HC directing it to provide land for graveyards in all villages of Karnataka within six weeks.

The division bench of Justices B Veerappa and T Venkatesh Naik ordered the presence of the DCs before it on March 17.

In an earlier hearing of the petition in January, the government counsel had submitted before the court that out of the 29,616 villages in the state, 27,903 were already provided with land for burial grounds and only 319 villages were to be given land for the same. The court was also told that encroachment of burial grounds in 56 villages was being removed and 1,394 were uninhabited.

However, the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority verified these submissions and informed the court that the government has provided false information. 

As per the KSLSA, a total of 2,041 villages were yet to be provided land for burial grounds. The government advocate, however, told the court that the information was provided by the DC of each districts.

The court observed that it had no option but to initiate contempt proceedings against the DCs who have provided false information. Providing false information to the court amounted to contempt and cheating, the division bench observed. 

The hearing of the petition was adjourned to March 17.

-With PTI Input