Bangalore: The Karnataka high court hearing a petition  filed by B Nirmala, a second division clerk in the Central Relief Committee (CRC) which manages the so-called ‘Beggars Colony’ on Magadi Road on Wednesday directed the principal secretaries of the social welfare and labour departments to file affidavits over the free movement and operations of beggars on city roads.
The petition related to her promotion. She alleged that she was bypassed.  While ordering notice to the Central Relief Committee over this issue, the judge also wanted to know how the CRC was functioning and wondered if it was doing its task considering that he encounters beggars on almost every street.

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has been imposing a ‘beggar cess’ on the property tax it collects from Bangaloreans since 1976. The cess was one percent of the property tax earlier and now stands at three percent.

Justice Ram Mohan Reddy asked the advocate representing the state government, “Every day, I have to pay a beggar on the street. Why are you not taking them to the beggars’ home? Recently I saw a police official collecting money from a beggar. Is it the ‘mamool’? Remove them from all public places.”

The advocate replied that the government had a plan in place. The court then asked whether this plan was a rolling plan which never ends, or a plan that has fixed timelines for resolution.

Justice Reddy said, “You should have removed every beggar from the street by now. I am fed up. For what have you been collecting beggar cess? What purpose has it served?”

The court then directed the principal secretaries of the social welfare and labour departments to file affidavits on the issue, detailing action plans to deal with the problem.