NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday said it would consider a submission seeking the listing of a plea for transferring a case on the hijab row from the Karnataka High Court to itself.

A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said the high court is seized of the case and should be allowed to continue with the hearing and decide it.

Seeking transfer of the case and hearing by a nine-judge bench at the top court, senior advocate Kapil Sibal said, “The problem is that schools and colleges are closed. Girls are being stoned. It’s spreading across the country.”

After being told by Sibal that he did not want any order and only listing of the plea, the CJI said, “We will see.”

On Wednesday, Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi constituted a full bench, comprising himself and Justices Krishna S Dixit and J M Khazi, which will look into the hijab matter on Thursday.

BENGALURU: Tamil Nadu which has implemented several irrigation projects in the guise of drinking water projects has no moral right to object to the Mekedatu balancing reservoir meant for drinking water project planned by Karnataka on its territory, asserted former prime minister HD Deve Gowda on Tuesday.

Raising the issue in the Rajya Sabha while talking over linking of rivers announced by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman in her budget on February 1, Gowda stated, “After the Cauvery-Vaigai-Gundar link project and lifting water from Mettur to the benefit of Salem district in the guise of drinking water, they have no moral right to object the Mekedatu project.”

Taking note of the Padayatra taken out by the Congress in Karnataka demanding for the clearance by the Centre he observed that the Congress and the BJP have been fighting each other whereas the AIDMK and DMK have been united for the cause of their state. He alleged that Tamil Nadu has been diverting the river water to the new arid zones although it is meant for the delta area as it is against the 2007 Cauvery Water Tribunal verdict. “The verdict has no bearing on Karnataka constructing a reservoir for the drinking water purpose on its territory,” he pointed out.

“I am alone and has been battling over the issues of irrigation for over fifty years in the interest of Karnataka. When Karunanidhi was the Chief Minister the Centre had provided Rs 2,000 crore to construct a project at Hogenekal to serve the purpose of drinking water to six districts,” he claimed. 

He also blasted the Centre as it has not declared the Upper Bhadra and third phase of Upper Krishna as national projects yet. He wanted the leader of the floor Piyush Goyal to take note of the issue and convey it to the Narendra Modi led BJP government at the Centre. The RS members from Karnataka Jairam Ramesh and Dr L Hanumanthaiah backed Gowda.

Bats for Bengaluru:
The Supreme Court had allocated 4.7 TMC consumptive drinking water to Bangalore city based on its population, as per the 2011 Census, which was 85 lakhs. But, the population of Bangalore alone is 130 lakhs. 

“We have been utilising 50 TMC ft water out of 284 allocated for the irrigation purpose,” Gowda pointed out. Three of your (BJP) MPs have won from Bengaluru City, not just one but three seats. But they can’t do anything here,” he chided.  

“Supreme Court had allocated 284 TMC ft to Karnataka and 400 TMC ft to Tamil Nadu. There is an acute problem with the availability of drinking water in Bangaluru. Since the city will not come under the purview of the catchment area, not taken into consideration to allocate drinking water for the one-third Bangaluru city,” he explained.

Backed Karunanidhi

“Late Karunanidhi was supporting the UF Government when I was the Prime Minister for eleven months. I discussed with him that the government itself was going to fund the construction of the project and whenever there would be any shortage to Tamil Nadu, we would not come in the way of the flow, we will allow the water; and, when Tamil Nadu would not require water, we would use the water for drinking purposes and some portion might be utilised for power generation,” he said.

BENGALURU : As the hijab row turned violent on Tuesday, the State Government declared a three-day holiday for high schools and colleges. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai appealed to students to maintain peace as the situation threatened to go out of control.

The violence hit the education system even as it was returning to normal and offline classes had started just a few days ago. The students have taken to the streets at a time when they should be preparing for exams, which are two months away.

In Mandya, students wearing saffron shawls gathered outside colleges in the district raising ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ slogans. A hijab-wearing student at PES College in Mandya was heckled by boys, and the college staff had to rush to her rescue. Several girls wearing hijab returned to hostels in fear as students protested outside colleges at Mandya and Pandavapura in the district.

At the Government Degree College at Bapuji Nagar in Shivamogga, miscreants threw stones at students, injuring two of them. A saffron flag was hoisted in the college by students, while the police resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the crowd. Later, prohibitory orders were imposed in the town. In Harihar, police lobbed teargas shells and lathi-charged protesting students, who were indulging in stone-throwing.

The hijab row that started at a college in Udupi district has quickly spread to most parts of the state, including Bagalkot, Vijayapura, Hubballi, Hassan, Kolar, Kodagu and Kalaburgi. Students wearing hijabs and saffron shawls and groups supporting them resorted to protests. As the situation was getting out of control, many colleges declared holidays even before the government made the announcement. 

Wearing hijab comes under privacy rights, argues counsel

Devadatt Kamat argued that wearing the hijab is essential religious practice as prescribed by the Quran and wearing it comes under privacy rights. As hijab is part of attire, the Government Order mandating uniform partakes the character of right to expression guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.

Prescription of uniform is against the protection of religious practice under Article 25. The three judgments of Bombay, Kerala and Madras HCs are not relevant to this case and hence, this cannot be a foundation for the state’s uniform policy. He also said they are not trying to incite any trouble and are quietly practising their faith.

Issue raised in Parliament
Congress MP from Karnataka L Hanumanthaiah raised the hijab row issue in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. Speaking during zero hour, he said that Karnataka is facing intense student protests as girls wearing hijab were not allowed to attend classes. Another MP Naseer Hussain supported him. They alleged that the state government failed to control the situation, which was opposed by BJP members.

Parmesh S Jain

Bengaluru CCB police undertakes a special drive across the city to check on foreign nationals and their activities.

A special drive was organised under the leadership and able guidance of Commissioner of police, Kamal Pant who asked Joint CP Crime, Raman Gupta to conduct a massive drive as to control illegal activities and drug abuse in the city.

Around 100 officials from Central Crime Branch participated in a special drive across the city to check on Foreign nationals staying illegally and involved in anti social activities .

As many as 27 Foreign Nationals including 11 women were not having the travel documents in order and have been sent to detention center and cases handed over to FRRO for further action, a police officer,said.

The drive launched in the early hours of Monday morning and as many as 43 houses rented out by Foreign Nationals in and around KR Puram, Ramamurthynagar,Hennur,Banasawadi,Kothanur, Sampigehalli,Bagaluru and Yelahanka were searched to look for possible narcotics.

In another case the police have registered a case against foreign national under passport act in Hennur police station and further investigation is on.

Finally Bengaluru police commissioner,Kamal Pant has appreciated Joint CP Crime,Raman Gupta,DCP Crime-1,Dr SD Sharanappa,DCP crime-2,BS Angadi,and other all officers who were part of this drive a special reward will be given to the team for their excellent work he added.

Parmesh S Jain

Two armed men robbed a 27-year-old cab driver at knife point while he was taking a nap on roadside at 5th main HSR layout on Sunday night .

The victim,Srinath was waiting for the customers and dozed off when he woke up to knock on the window.

As soon as Srinath opened the window, they duo barged into the car, threatened him at knife point and took away his gold chain, mobile phone and wallet before fleeing away on the bike.

The police have taken up a case of robbery and verifying CCTV footage from him.We have some clues on the accused and will be arrested soon,a senior police officer, said.

Parmesh S Jain

A 46-year-old assaulted,stripped humiliated and robbed by her neighbour over a trivial row in Bellanduru on Friday.

Adding to the worst the police refused to take her complaint and assaulted her son who was trying to record their inaction on his mobile phone.

Bruised and battered she approached city police commissioner Kamal Pant on Saturday and filed a petition seeking action against the accused.

The victim had gone to visit her ailing mother staying close to her house and started cleaning the house outside.This has irked her neighbour, Ramu Munivenkatappa,without any provocation attacked her stripped and started beating her.

Soon his son joined and both assaulted the victim unless she passed out in front of the house.

In the melee her gold chain worth Rs 1.2 lakh was missing.Meanwhile her son returned from college and saw mother lying unconcious with stripped cloths.

He brought water and spinkled on her and the Hoysala patrolling vehicle reached the spot and took stock of the situation.

The victim and her son was later sent to station in an autorikshaw to report the matter.But as soon as they reached the station, the police abused and refused to take complaint and asked her to get out of the station.

shocked by the behaviour when the son identified as Goutham,started recording the behaviour of the police,they dragged him inside the station and beat him before deleting the video.

She even went to the jurisdictional DCP office but the officer was not present and the office staff asked her to come the next day.

Humiliated and shocked victim returned and with the help of a good samaritans,she filed a complaint with the commissioner and the complaint was forwarded to the DCP office.

On Monday the staff of the DCP told her when she went to meet again asked her to go and meet the police personnel at Bellandur police station.

Parmesh S Jain

Central projects related to the state in Irrigation, Railways,Urban Development,Ports and Highways departments came up for discussion at the meeting with MPs of the State.

We had cordial discussions on issues to be raised at the Centre,Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said.

Speaking to media persons after his meeting with the State MPs,Bommai said, Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman too participated in the meeting.

She has assured of all measures to implement all the projects announced in the Union Budget. Siraman has also assured all the grants for the state under the 15th Finance Commission.

“During the the meeting with the Finance Minister we also discussed the Rs.1 lakh crore capital grant in the form of interest free on a 50 year term. The share of Karnataka is estimated to be around Rs.3800 cr to Rs.4000 cr in the capital grant,” Bommai said. 

Parmesh S Jain

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has requested the Union government to extend the GST compensation for a period upto 2024-25.

Bommai presented the request when he called on Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman in New Delhi on Monday.

The period of GST compensation, being paid by the Union government, is set to end in March 2022.But the states are facing resource crunch due to Covid 19 impact.

In this background the Union government should extend the GST compensation time limit upto 2024-25 to help the states, Bommai requested.

The Union government had provided GST compensation for the last two years through loans.

The same gesture should continue for three more years and the loans could be repaid through collection of GST Cess, the Chief Minister conveyed to the Finance Minister. 

Parmesh S Jain

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has requested Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman for a grant of Rs.5030cr for all round development of Kalyana Karnataka region under various central sponsored programmes.

“In accordance with the discussions held recently at the Conference of South Zone Board,Andhra Pradesh had sought a special grant for the development of its backward districts.

Similarly Karnataka too had pointed out that the Kalyana Karnataka region had many districts that were among the most backward in the country. Special status has been accorded for the region through amendment of article 371(J) of the Constitution.

Reservation has been provided for the region in employment and education.But special attention is needed for the development of the region.

The region lags behind in the multidimensional poverty index of the Niti Ayog too.So the Union government should provide a grant of Rs.5030cr for the region under Central sponsored programmes,” Bommai requested.

New Delhi: As the hijab row intensified further in Karnataka, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday appealed to the Opposition and the people concerned not to escalate the situation by making “provocative” statements and to wait for the High Court order.

The state government is going by the law on dress code and the same stand has been put before the court, he said.

“Let’s wait for the judiciary’s decision and we will abide by whatever it says,” he added.

The chief minister also said that the Karnataka government has declared a holiday in high schools and colleges in the state for the next three days in order to maintain law and order.

Replying to queries from reporters here, Bommai said there were some disturbances in a few places and appealed for peace and harmony.

“I appeal to students to maintain peace and there is no occasion for any clashes.

“I appeal to teachers to ensure peace is maintained. I am asking concerned people not to make provocative statements and aggravate the situation because it is a very sensitive issue as far as students are concerned,” he said.

Students have to sit together and do academic activities. Therefore, peace and harmony should be maintained, he said and asked teachers and management of schools and colleges to maintain peace.

Tension had prevailed at some educational institutions in Udupi, Shivamogga, Bagalkote and other parts of the state as they were rocked by protests for and against hijab today, forcing the police and administration to intervene.

The Karnataka High Court today heard petitions filed by five girls studying in a Government Pre-university College in Udupi, questioning hijab restriction in college and the matter has been posted for Wednesday.


The protest over dress code started in one school and has spread to other districts.

“It is very unfortunate. The matter is seized by the High Court. As I speak now, the High Court proceedings on this matter are going on. …We are waiting for the directions from the court,” he said.

Similar situations were witnessed in other states and different high courts have given different judgements. “Our matter is also in the HC,” he said.

As far as the legality of the whole issue is concerned, the state government has put its case clearly as per the Karnataka Education Act, he said and added: “Let us wait for the direction from the High Court, till that time the peace needs to be maintained. I appeal to everyone.”

On opposition parties in Parliament raising the hijab row and accusing the BJP of polarisation, the CM said, “These are all allegations and do not have any ground.”

Proper education has to be given to students in the state. The state government is going by the law on dress code and the same stand has been put before the court, he said.

Bommai, on the second day of his visit to the national capital, met Commerce and Industries Minister Piyush Goyal and requested him to give production-linked incentives for toy and FMCG industries in the state.

He also spoke to BJP National President J P Nadda over the phone over the state issue. “Naddaji has said he will speak to me after two days,” he added.