"You can't go in circles", Karnataka High Court asks State to publish notice informing public that Cauvery Calling is not its project

The Karnataka High Court on Monday orally asked the State government whether it was willing to publish a notice informing the public that Isha Foundation's Cauvery Calling is not its project..A Bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Vishwajith Shetty asked the State,."Will you publish a notice? Mention that Cauvery calling is not a State government project. You can't go in circles, you must come very clean.".During the hearing, the Bench questioned the State on the existence of government order/s stating that private parties can implement the Krushi Aranya Protsaha Yojane scheme..The said scheme was initiated by the Karnataka Forest Department in 2011-12 in order to promote the co-operation of farmers and the general public in increasing forest and tree cover..The Court posed this question after it was told that the Isha Foundation sought to implement the same via the Cauvery Calling project. .The Court was hearing a suo motu plea seeking directions to Isha Foundation to refrain from collecting any funds from the public for the project..The Court made these observations after Amicus Curiae Advocate Vidyulatha informed the Bench that river rejuvenation, one of the objectives of the project, will be implemented by the State government. The Court was made aware of this aspect based on the statement of objections furnished by Isha Foundation..The total budget of the Cauvery Calling project was Rs 8.40 crore per annum for 10 years, the Court was told. .Further, Vidyulatha apprised the Court that the statement of objections of the project nowhere contemplated the collection of money from the general public. In this light, she expressed doubts on the legality of the collection of funds from the public for the project. .Vidyulatha further urged the Court to implead Union of India as a party in the matter, as the Cauvery Calling was a project undertaken for the entire country. .Recently, the Court had decided to treat the plea seeking directions to Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev's Isha Foundation to not collect funds from the public for its Cauvery Calling project, as a suo motu petition..The Court was prompted to pass the said direction after petitioner Advocate AV Amarnathan had sent a legal notice to the Discovery Channel asking it not to air a programme on the project..The petition filed by Amarnathan alleged that as part of the Cauvery Calling project, Isha Foundation was planting saplings on government land and collecting money for the same from the public..The plea questions how the government can allow its land to be used for planting saplings by a private organisation, without studying the pros and cons of the project..The petitioner further argued that the “collection of money from public is disturbing” as the Foundation is expected to collect a massive ₹10,626 crore as donation..The matter has been posted for hearing on December 9.