HC admits PIL against Chief Minister

BANGALORE: The Karnataka High Court on Monday admitted a PIL which sought legal action against Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda and his Cabinet colleagues for violating the Karnataka Jail Manual 1978 by visiting Yeddyurappa, who is in judicial custody, on a Sunday.The division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Vikramjit Sen and Justice A S Bopanna directed the petitioner to place relevant records, including statements from Jayadeva Hospital where Yeddyurappa was admitted on the said day, and the records maintained by the jail authorities, to substantiate his argument and adjourned the case by ten days.The petitioner, K N A Reddy, contended that the CM, some of his Cabinet colleagues and around 500 people visited Yeddyurappa in Jayadeva Hospital though Rule 1 of chapter 4 of the Jail Manual prohibited the inmates from meeting people on Sundays.Even during the usual visiting hours, more than five persons were not allowed to meet the inmates, he said. The relatives of a patient who died in the hospital were not allowed into the hospital to enable the CM and the ministers to meet Yeddyurappa, he added.