The tussle between the municipal commissioner and the advocates of Hubballi reached the police on Wednesday with the latter taking out a protest march and seeking the dismissal of the former from service.
While Municipal Commissioner Major Siddalingayya Hiremath has filed a police complaint against advocate Santosh Nargund and another person Prakash Wali alleging that they had misbehaved with security staff and had forcefully entered the premises of his official residence, the advocates have alleged that the municipal commissioner had misused his office to file a case against citizens who had gone to seek remedy in a civic issue.
The protesting advocates, who held an emergency general body meeting of the Hubballi Bar Association, then marched to Suburban Police Station to register their protest. They alleged that the police too had ill-treated the advocate by detaining him at the police station from morning till evening, even though a complaint was filed only in the evening.
Leading the protest, association secretary Ashok Anvekar and others sought an inquiry into the incident by an official of the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Police and action against those who had ill-treated the advocate, who, as a citizen, had gone to the official residence of the municipal commissioner seeking steps for repairs to the corporation swimming pool.
There was tension for some time at the police station as the advocates were stopped from barging into it. Subsequently, Police Commissioner M.N. Nagaraj spoke to the advocates and assured them of holding an inquiry into the issue. Stating that an Assistant Commissioner of Police would inquire into it, he also assured them of action based on the inquiry report.
The advocates then marched to the Mini Vidhana Soudha and staged a demonstration seeking action against Major Hiremath. They submitted a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister seeking the dismissal of the municipal commissioner. In the memorandum, they have alleged that being a civil servant, Mr. Hiremath had failed to discharge his responsibilities and instead was using his authority to harass commoners.