In the Name of the Not to be Named

An HC notice to Karnataka MLAs taking oaths of office in the name of parents, rivers etcetera

BANGALORE Can an elected member of the Assembly take his oath of office in the name of his aunt or a river? Or in a language other than the state or national language? The Karnataka High Court recently issued notices to 23 MLAs, including two ministers in the Congress cabinet, based on a petition that described such practices as whimsical and unconstitutional. After the elections, while most Karnataka MLAs took oath in the name of God, as prescribed by the Constitution, Shashikala Jolley, H Anjaneya and Vinay Kulkarni took their oath in the name of Basaveshwara, a 12th century social reformer; Y Ramakka and PM Narendraswamy in the name of BR Ambedkar; MP Apachchuranjan in the name of the river Cauvery; A Srinivasa Murthy in the name of Champakadhama Swamy, a sect head; KB Prasanna Kumar in the name of his aunt and mother; NH Konaraddi in the name of the farmer; and SN Narayanaswamy and S Chikkamadu in the name of their constituents. Arvind Chandrakant Patil and Sambhaji Laxman Patil from Belgaum district took their oath in Marathi to make a political point over the border dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra. RTI activist Jayakumar Hiremath, who received copies of some of the written oaths after an RTI application, petioned the High Court over this free-for-all, along with Advocate Dharmapal Yennemajal. “The Constitution (Article 188) states that they can either ‘swear in the name of God’ or can ‘solemnly affirm’. The words substituted by these elected representatives make them ineligible to function as MLAs and ministers. In one case, MTB Nagaraj has scratched and replaced the word ‘God’ with Manjunatha Swamy in whose name he took oath of office,’’ he says. The petition says such a violation attracts a penalty as per Article 193 of the Constitution, which states: ‘Such members shall be liable, in respect of each day on which they sit or vote, to a penalty of Rs 500 to be recovered as a debt due to the State.’

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Anil Budur Lulla