Lanka’s Buddhist clergy mulls anti-govt decree BENGALURU  SUNDAY  MAY 1, 2022  `12.00  PAGES 28  LATE CITY EDITION Buddhist monks attend a meeting at Independence Memorial Hall in Colombo on Saturday | AFP The religious leadership is upset that an interim government is yet to be formed and the Rajapaksas remain in power. The Buddhist clergy, which wields a lot of political power in the predominantly Buddhist Sri Lanka, has been pushing for the ouster of PM Mahinda Rajapaksa. On Saturday, about 1,000 monks took part in a protest march, putting further pressure on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to form interim govt | P12 CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Non-performance of executive leads to glut of litigation, says CJI; court matters must be in language understood by common man: PM EXPRESS READ North breaks heat record of 122 years Do not cross the Local languages Lakshman Rekha, should be used in says CJI Ramana courts: PM Modi New Delhi: After March, April has broken a 122-year record of heat in North India. IMD says temperatures in May will remain above normal in central and northwest India. The average maximum temperature in April was 35.9 degrees Celsius in northwest India | P9 Kolada Mutt seer passes away at 80, CM condoles Bengaluru: Shanthaveera swamiji of Kolada Mutt in Shanthi Nagar passed away on Saturday morning after suffering a heart attack. He was 80. He was one of the most prominent Lingayat Mutt seers. CM Basavaraj Bommai condoled his death | P5 Dhoni back as skipper after Jadeja steps down Chennai: One of Chennai Super Kings’ favourite party tricks is to keep going back to tried and tested ways. On Saturday night, the four-time champions, in time-honoured fashion, appointed MS Dhoni as skipper for the third time | P15 LONG-BILLED VULTURE HATCHLING ALL SET TO FLY P2 JAB-O-METER April 29 20,30,807 doses TAKE April 30 23,27,495 doses TOTAL: 189,14,62,594 NATIONWIDE APR 29 APR 30 Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths KARNATAKA APR 29 APR 30 3,377 3,688 Fresh cases 2,496 2,755 Recoveries 60 50 Deaths 133 147 0 Gold gone, education keeps KGF shining With KGF Chapter 2 emerging as a major box-office hit, having raked in over `1,000 crore since its April 14 release, film buffs have been celebrating its success across the world wherever it has been screened. But little is known about the real KGF (Kolar Gold Fields) which reels under deficiencies despite the vast potential the region offers to take it back to its days of glory, albeit in a different role. The New Sunday Express, in a three-part series, looks at what is wrong with the town and what can be done to utilise the potential offered by KGF. A S H W I N I M S R I PA D A N D V V E L AY U D H A M @ K G F ( K o l a r ) GOOD NEWS! YOUR SHOT Though the Bharath Gold Mines Limited was shut in 2001, the Champion Reef Mine shafts are still visible at many places | SHRIRAM BN 126 76 2 GROUND ZERO RID of any industry worth the name right in Bengaluru’s backyard, Kolar Gold Fields (KGF), internationally famous now with the boxoffice hit KGF Chapter 2, has seen its population driving their children to higher education, so they can get lucrative jobs elsewhere. Sixty-five-year-old V Palani, who once worked as a labourer at Bharat Gold Mines Ltd (BGML), which closed down in 2001, has two sons and a daughter, and all three of them are doublegraduates, now working with private firms in Bengaluru. All three have to travel 100 km to Bengaluru to their workplaces from KGF— also known as “Little England” — and it’s a daily affair. “We neither have farm lands nor money to invest in any business. We do not have any ancestral property although we , worked in the gold mines. All that we did was to give education to our children, make them self-reliant,’’ explains Palani, who points to his region which offers next to nothing for sustenance. P5 KGF PART I E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi THE Constitution provides separation of power among the three organs of the State — the legislature, the executive and the judiciary — and one should be mindful of the Lakshman Rekha while discharging duty Chief Justice of India N V Ra, mana said on Saturday Speaking at a joint confer. ence of chief ministers and chief justices here on Saturday the CJI said the judiciary will not , come in the way of governance. However, when the executive fails to perform its duty effectively and the legislature does not realise its full potential, litigation will arise adding to courts’ burden. While policy making is not the judiciary’s domain, courts can’t say no if a citizen comes with a CJI N V Ramana prayer to address his grievance, the CJI said. In many cases, it is the sheer ambiguity in legislation that causes ligitation. “If the legislature passes a law with clarity of thought, foresight and with people’s welfare in mind, the scope for litigation gets minimised,” he added. Justice Ramana noted there is “deliberate inaction by governments despite judicial pronouncements”. Courts’ workload increases when contempt petitions come up before them due to non-implementation of court decisions by governments. Clarifying his recent comments about passing laws without much legislative scrutiny , he said some quarters had misunderstood his remarks. He added that he has the highest regard for the legislature and elected representatives. On the spike in frivolous litigations, he lamented that the concept of PIL at times becomes ‘personal interest litigation’.“PIL has become a tool for those who want to settle political scores or corporate rivalry he said. ,” AMID the debate over the prospects of Hindi as the language of communication among states, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday made a strong pitch for using local languages in courts. This single step will make the common man feel connected to the justice delivery system of the country the PM said. , “The proceedings of high courts and the Supreme Court are in English. A large population finds it difficult to understand. We need to make the system simpler,” Modi said at the joint conference of CMs and chief justices. By promoting local languages in courts, people’s right to judicial process can also PM Narendra Modi be strengthened, he said. Even technical and medical education can be imparted in Hindi and local languages, so why not court matters, Modi asked. He noted that judicial reforms have never been merely a policy matter, adding that redundant laws must be scrapped. In 2015, the government identified 1,800 obsolete laws, of which 1,450 Central laws were repealed but states abolished only 75, Modi said urging the CMs to scrap them. On undertrials languishing in jails, he said most of them are poor. “I would appeal to all chief ministers and HC chief justices to give priority to these matters on the basis of humanitarian sensibility and law,” he added. Later, addressing a joint press conference along with Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, CJI N V Ramana said reforms like changing court language can’t be implemented in a hurry due to practical difficulties. “The chief justice will always be from outside. Senior-most judges sometimes are also from outside,” he noted. OUT OF THE BLUE W I T H T H I S I SSU E PLUS 12 PAGES