Plea against naming government buildings after living Congress ministers: Karnataka HC issues notice

BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court has reportedly issued notice in a plea against naming of public places and government buildings in Davanagere after Minister SS Mallikarjun and his father, Congress MLA Shamanur Shivashankarappa.

A Division Bench consisting 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 was essentially questioning the practice of naming several government buildings and properties after the names of living politicians and personalities in Davangere district contrary to the High Courts directions in 2012.

As per the plea, in 2012, the High Court had held that naming public property after a living politician was illegal. In the said judgement, 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 while adding that politicians desirous of immortalizing their names are free to do so provided no public funds are used to that effect. 

In the judgement, the HC 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 of any failure, citizens were granted the right to court directly.

 This being the case, the plea highlighted numerous public and government properties in Davanagere named after Mallikarjun and Shivashankarappa, including a bus stand, a lake, the Zilla Panchayat Sabhangana, the Corporation meeting hall, among others. 

This apart, the plea added that a signboard at the entrance of Davanagere city acknowledges that the lighting was funded by public money, but interestingly, with a photograph of both the ministers. 

The plea by filed by one Raghavendra KP through Advocate Vinod Kumar M.