The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the State government on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition against naming of public places and government buildings in Davanagere after Minister SS Mallikarjun and his father, Congress MLA Shamanur Shivashankarappa.A division bench of Chief Justice NV Anjaria and Justice Krishna S Dixit issued notice to both the leaders, the State government and the Deputy Commissioner, the Corporation and Zilla Panchayat of Davanagere.The plea by one Raghavendra KC through advocate Vinod Kumar M, highlighted that in 2012, the High Court had held that naming public property after a living politician was illegal.In an order dated June 4, 2012, the then Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice BV Nagarathna had directed the removal of the name of then MLA K Madal Virupakshappa from the name of a playground."It shall not be named after any living person and certainly not in the name of a public figure who is certain to gain advantage from such name. If there is any politician who is desirous of having his name immortalized, he is free to do it on his own property and provided that no public funds have been used," the Court had said.The judgment had also directed the Deputy Commissioner to look into cases of other public buildings named after politicians who were alive and take appropriate remedial action. In case remedial action was not taken, liberty was granted to any person to approach the Court for the same.In this backdrop, the plea drew the attention of the Court to numerous public and government properties in Davanagere named after Mallikarjun and Shivashankarappa. These include a bus stand, a lake, the Zilla Panchayat Sabhangana, the Corporation meeting hall, a park and an entire layout.Further, it was highlighted that a signboard at the entrance of Davanagere city acknowledges that the lighting was funded by public money, but with a photograph of the father-son duo.
TAGS: Karnataka High Court public interest litigation (PIL) Davanagere
