Register FIR against Kodagu Deputy Commissioner, orders High Court

Bengaluru: Following allegations against Kodagu Deputy Commissioner Dr. Richard Vincent D’Souza over passing two different orders in a single day, relating to a property dispute, the Karnataka High Court yesterday directed Registrar Vigilance or Local Judicial Officer to file an FIR against the DC.

This is a rare instance where the High Court has ordered an investigation both under criminal law and the civil service rules against a Deputy Commissioner. The court was hearing the petition filed by one B.R. Mohammed Shoaib, a resident of Virajpet seeking to quash the order of the DC with regard to a property dispute.

The DC, acting as an appellate quasi judicial authority under the Land Revenue Act, had allegedly signed two sets of orders on an appeal related to a dispute over entries made in the revenue records of a piece of land on which there is a dispute between Mohammed Shoaib and his brother B.R. Khalil Ahmed from Virajpet.

While in one order, containing four pages, D’Souza had put his short-signature on the first three pages and full signature on last page, in the second order, all the four pages contain his full signature.

Also, there is a slight variation in the final portions of the order on the fourth page. While in one set, there is an order of maintaining “status quo” and setting aside the order of lower authority on land entries while asking the parties to approach the civil court for adjudicating their dispute, in the other set, the litigants were asked to approach the civil court.

Interestingly, one set of the order was sent to the litigants by post, and the other was provided as certified copies in the office of the DC. Both the orders bear the same date, May 29, 2017, and same appeal number.

The issue came to the notice of the court when Mohammed Shoaib filed a petition before High Court questioning the orders passed by the DC.

Justice Vineet Kothari, in his interim order, has directed the Registrar Vigilance of the High Court to ensure registration of a FIR through the jurisdictional judicial authorities in Kodagu district. The court also directed the Chief Secretary to initiate disciplinary inquiry against the DC.

The State government was asked to submit a status report by the next date of hearing. The court has stayed the ‘orders’ passed by the DC, and adjourned the matter to Dec. 14.