CM inaugurates Udupi District Offices Complex in Manipal, promises better services to people

December 25, 2011

Manipal, December 25: Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda on Sunday inaugurated the District Offices Complex here, which brings 43 government departments and the zilla panchayat under a single building.

The complex has been constructed on 12 acres of land at a cost of Rs. 30 crore. Speaking after inaugurating the complex, he said the BJP government was committed to providing services to people, who would not have to go through bureaucratic or political redtapism.

The Udupi District Offices Complex was the first in the State to be a paperless office. The complex was fully computerised. It was a model for the entire State. He said the staff shortage in the district administration would be solved soon as the Government had had decided to sanction filling of 50 posts, the Chief Minister said.

Mr. Gowda said the government had passed the Karnataka Guarantee of Services to Citizens Bill in the recently concluded Assembly session. This measure would provide guarantee of 152 services to the people. Normally, there were complaints of either bureaucrats or bureaucrats along with politicians not wanting to provide services to the people.

This measure would put an end to any high-handed behaviour either by bureaucrats or politicians.

Mr. Gowda said a demand had been made to construct a bridge at Havanje-Kolalgiri as it would reduce the distance between villages surrounding Brahmavar to Udupi by 16 km. A detailed project report would be prepared for the bridge. Funds for the bridge would be allocated in the next fiscal budget, Mr. Gowda said. Higher Education Minister V.S. Acharya,Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Jagadish Shettar, Chairman of the Third Finance Commission Implementation Task Force A.G. Kodgi, MLAs Raghupati Bhat, Lakshminarayana and Gopal Bhandary, MLCs Kota Srinivas Poojary and Ganesh Karnik, were present.

The Chief Minister later chaired a meeting of the district administration in the presence of district incharge minister Mr. Acharya, MLAs and MLCs from the district.

Arrested

Meanwhile, police thwarted an attempt by the Janata Dal (Secular) workers to wave black flags to the Chief Minister.

The police took the party workers into preventive custody and released them after the inaugural function.

President of district unit of JD(S) Deviprasad Shetty condemned the police action as undemocratic. The JD(S) has been opposing the setting up of the District Offices Complex in Manipal, which is eight km away from Udupi and “inconvenienced ordinary people”.

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HC refuses to quash probe against Mangaluru WhatsApp admin over offensive posts

News Network

February 1,2026

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has refused to quash an investigation against a WhatsApp group administrator accused of allowing the circulation of obscene and offensive images depicting Hindutva politicians and idols in 2021.

Justice M Nagaprasanna observed that, prima facie, the ingredients of the offence under Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code were made out. “The offence under Section 295A of the IPC is met to every word of its ingredient, albeit prima facie,” the judge said.

The petitioner, Sirajuddin, a resident of Belthangady taluk in Dakshina Kannada district, had challenged the FIR registered against him at the CEN (Cyber, Economics and Narcotics) police station, Mangaluru, for offences under Section 295A of the IPC and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act. Section 295A relates to punishment for deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of any class of citizens.

According to the complaint filed by K Jayaraj Salian, also a resident of Belthangady taluk, he received a WhatsApp group link from an unknown source and was added to the group after accessing it. The group reportedly had six administrators and around 250 participants, where obscene and offensive images depicting Hindu deities and certain political figures were allegedly circulated repeatedly.

Sirajuddin was arrested in connection with the case and later released on bail on February 16, 2021. He argued before the court that he was being selectively targeted, while other administrators—including the creator of the group—were neither arrested nor investigated. He also contended that the Magistrate could not have taken cognisance of the offence under Section 295A without prior sanction under Section 196(1) of the CrPC.

Rejecting the argument, Justice Nagaprasanna held that prior sanction is required only at the stage of taking cognisance, and not at the stage of registration of the crime or during investigation.

The judge noted that the State had produced the entire investigation material before the court. “A perusal of the material reveals depictions of Hindu deities in an extraordinarily obscene, demeaning and profane manner. The content is such that its reproduction in a judicial order would itself be inappropriate,” the court said, adding that the material, on its face, had the tendency to outrage religious feelings and disturb communal harmony.

Observing that the case was still at the investigation stage, the court said it could not interdict the probe at this juncture. However, it expressed concern that the investigating officer appeared to have not proceeded uniformly against all administrators. The court clarified that if the investigation revealed the active involvement of any member in permitting the circulation of such content, they must also be proceeded against.

“At this investigative stage, any further observation by this Court would be unnecessary,” the order concluded.

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