Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka on Friday dismissed a petition seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the death of Nandita, a 14-year-old student from Tirthahalli in Shivamogga district.
The girl’s father had filed the petition questioning the probe by the State police.
However, Justice K.L. Manjunath dismissed the petition after the State Advocate-General told the court that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), to which the probe was entrusted to, had almost completed the investigation, and the final report would be submitted to the jurisdictional court within two weeks.
The CID had recently announced that girl had committed suicide, and dismissed her father’s claim that she was murdered. Besides, the CID had also ruled out her modesty being outraged.
Terming the panchayts “super governments”, the High Court on Friday asked the State to control their functions before they go out of control in granting licences for various purposes without having the powers to do so.
“These panchayats are acting like super governments. They are issuing all kinds of licences, though they don’t have any power. Government needs to cap them…,” observed Justice Ram Mohan Reddy during the hearing of a petition through which the court has been monitoring the steps taken by the government to prevent the formation of layouts illegally on lands coming under the jurisdiction of panchayts.
Senior IAS officer Rajeev Chawla, who is assisting the court as court commissioner, told the court that he would bring to the notice of the government the issues related to panchayats.
