BENGALURU: The
Karnataka high court on Friday dismissed a PIL challenging the appointment of Dr G Parameshwara as deputy chief minister of Karnataka.
“PILs are meant for faceless and nameless causes” a division bench headed by Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari orally observed while mentioning about the hawkers’ case, Vishakha case wherein guidelines regarding sexual harassment at workplace came to be defined as classic examples wherein PILs have served the cause of the society.
The bench also imposed a cost of Rs 10,000 upon on petitioner Sekhar S Iyer for wasting court’s time by filing such an unnecessary petition.
Iyer has been directed to deposit the cost with the Deputy Commissioner of
Dakshina Kannada district within 30 days failing which the DC has been directed to initiate recovery proceedings against him.
Iyer, who now teaches business law as Professor Director- MBA programme Vivekananda college of Engineering and Technology in Puttur post his retirement had approached the court claiming that appointment of Dr Parameshwara as deputy chief minister is illegal and unconstitutional as there is no provision under the constitution for the post of deputy chief minister.
He further contended that Deputy Chief Minister’s tag is being misused as nobody knows which departments he handles and even bureaucrats are a confused a lot.
He also mentioned about Supreme Court’s judgment in January 1990 in a petition wherein appointment of Devi Lal as deputy prime minister came to be challenged by one KM Sharma.
He argued that the said petition came to be dismissed based on the statement of Attorney General saying that he was a minister just like other members of council of ministers and no specific law is laid on the issue.
However, the Chief Justice observed that the statement made by Attorney General is suffice and the Apex court’s decision is binding.
The Chief Justice also reminded the petitioner that chief minister or a minister is not a post but an office.
