BANGALORE: You may have the right to information, but that doesn’t mean you can have the information. Government files can, after all, always go “missing”.

The file containing information on the action taken against IAS officer B G Nandakumar — joint secretary to the Chief Minister — who is accused of distributing cash to voters in the 2009 Assembly election at Chikmagalur, has gone “missing”, a RTI query has revealed.

Nandakumar’s file, containing information on the action initiated against him by the chief secretary, has disappeared from the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR).

The 175-page file was previously inspected by K K Sumitra, a women’s rights activist, on behalf of Jayashree J N, an RTI activist.

“Public Information Officer (PIO) of DPAR department, K G Anantha, promised to dispatch the file to my address after accepting a fee of Rs 390, but to date I have not received the file,” said Sumitra.

Jayashree also filed an RTI query with the Election Commission of India (ECI) seeking the same information. The ECI forwarded the query to the DPAR. The response was the same: “No such file is held by the undersigned PIO.”

The PIO’s response is puzzling, especially since Sumitra had been allowed to scrutinise the file earlier.

“He (K G Anantha) is the same PIO who allowed us to inspect the file earlier, and agreed to give a copy,” said Sumitra. “DPAR is colluding with senior IAS officers and government to protect Nandakumar.” Official documents assessed by Express show that in a subsequent communication the PIO refused permission to give a copy of the file, saying it will “take lot of labour, stationery which are scarce commodities”.

The appeal against the PIO’s decision is pending before the Karnataka Information Commission.

BANGALORE: Thirty-six IAS officers in Karnataka have failed to declare their movable and immovable assets to the government in violation of the All India Service Rules, according to information accessed by Express under the Right to Information Act.

An RTI filed by Pragati Karnataka, a network of people fighting against corruption, revealed that 36 officers have not filed their annual property returns till the end of March 2010, which is mandatory as per the All India Service Rules.

The officers who have not declared their assets include Gokulram N, Chairman of Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Ltd, Abhijit Dasgupta, Additional Chief Secretary and Development Commissioner, B G Nandakumar, Joint Secretary to Chief minister and P Manivannan, Commissioner for Sericulture and former deputy commissioner of Mysore.

In addition, since 2006, 40 IAS officers have refused to give information about their assets when sought through RTI applications.

These include Bangalore Development Authority Commissioner Bharat Lal Meena, former Chief Secretaries P B Mahish and Sudhakar Rao, Rajeev Chawla, MD of Karnataka State Co-operative Marketing Federation, S M Jamadar, MD of KPTCL, B G Nandakumar, Joint Secretary to Chief Minister and Shalini Rajneesh, Secretary of Hyderabad Karnataka Area Development Board.

Interestingly, of about 200 IAS officers serving in Karnataka, only one officer, M N Vijayakumar, has informed the government that his asset declaration can be made available to any citizen. “It is it important to declare our assets as we handle crores of public money,” said Vijay Kumar.

Although elected representatives and judges of the High Court do not handle public money directly, they are still expected to declare their assets, he said.

Vijayakumar added that an IAS officer refusing to declare his/her assets to the public has something to hide and does not want to be transparent about his/her earnings.

State government drivers attached to the Vidhana Soudha and Vikas Soudha went on a snap key-down strike on Thursday, after one of their colleagues attempted suicide alleging harassment by an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) official.

The strike, by the Karnataka State Government Motor Drivers Central Association, left several ministers and top officials stranded.

Driver AR Anand Kumar reportedly consumed pesticide at his house in Dodda Gollarahatti on Magadi Road late on Wednesday night. It was alleged that the IAS official, Rajeev Chawla, to whom he was assigned, accused him of stealing money.

In a letter addressed to the governor, Kumar said Chawla, the commissioner of survey, settlement and land records, had called him a “thief” without any reason.

Kumar alleged in the letter that the officers son had handed him a pair of footwear to be returned to a Brigade Road showroom on January 23. he took the money from the showroom and went to Dharmasthala on a personal trip on January 24. When I reported to duty on 27th, I handed over the money, Rs2,100, to Eshwar.

Later, I received a call from the officer, who accused me of stealing a part of the money,” the letter said. The IAS officer allegedly threatened to transfer Kumar to Gulbarga or Raichur.

Chawla, however, denied the allegation, saying Kumar was a “decent, obedient and nice fellow.” He added that some unknown reason could have forced the driver to consume poison.

The police were unable to record a statement from Kumar, since he was still unconscious atthe Vijayanagar Global Hospital.

Doctors termed his condition as stable.

“Kumar is still in the intensive care unit at the hospital. The doctor told us that he cannot give a statement now. We are waiting for his statement to file a proper case,” police sub-inspector Anil Kumar said.

As the news of the suicide attempt reached the Vidhana Soudha, government drivers struck work around 3 pm, demanding that disciplinary action be taken against the IAS officer. They also demanded compensation for the hospitalised driver.

We dont want such an officer. We will continue the key-down strike till our demands are met by the authorities,” Thimmaiah, president of the drivers’ association said

Bangalore: After hurling swear words, Karnataka politicians are now ready to swear by the gods to prove their honesty in the face of charges of corruption, irregularity and amassing land.

Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa says he is ready to swear by any god his predecessor and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leader H D Kumaraswamy names to prove false the latter's charge of him taking bribe to appoint Bharat Lal Meena, an Indian Administrative Service officer, as commissioner of the Bangalore civic body.

"If he believes in the gods, I will swear by those gods to prove the allegations false," Yeddyurappa said Sunday.

Kumaraswamy made the startling claim on Saturday after the civic body, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike (Greater Bangalore City Corporation) worked an entire night to finalise contracts for Rs 3,400 crore (Rs 34 billion)-worth civic works in Bangalore.

Opposition Congress and JD-S allege that the Bharatiya Janata Party government finalised the contracts in a hurry to extract money from those who get the contract and use the amount to buy BBMP voters.

Kumaraswamy also wants to swear by God to disprove allegations by senior BJP leader V. Dhananjaya Kumar Saturday that his father and JD-S president H D Deve Gowda was opposing the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) because his family owned 4,000 acres of land along the corridor.

Kumar charged the lands were 'benami' and Gowda's opposition to BMIC was to protect his lands. "Let Gowda swear by his wife and children that his family does not own any land along the BMIC," he challenged.

"Our family does not own any land in the BMIC area. Let Dhananjaya Kumar prove it. I am willing to swear by any god," Kumaraswamy responded.

Gowda had called Yeddyurappa 'bloody b……' last Sunday while participating in an agitation against BMIC on the outskirts of Bangalore. He later apologized.

The BMIC consists of a 111-km expressway between Bangalore and Mysore, five townships, a corporate centre and other facilities along the expressway

The cost of corruption to the country could exceed Rs 250,000 crore, management guru C K Prahalad said today.

Delivering the Seventh Nani A Palkhivala Memorial Lecture here, he highlighted the funding of election campaigns by politicians and the return they try to achieve after they win as one of the basic reasons for corruption in the country.

The 2009 Lok Sabha elections are reported to have cost the country Rs 10,000 crore. Of this, Rs 1,300 crore was spent by the Election Commission and Rs 700 crore by the Centre and state governments. The remaining Rs 8,000 crore were spent by political parties and individual candidates.

If the cost of state elections were also covered, this could easily exceed Rs 25,000 crore, he said.

“I cannot but assume that private funding of elections of this magnitude is predicted on making an appropriate return,” said . “Given the risky nature of the investments in elections, politicians as venture capitalists, we can assume, will not settle for less than a 10n-fold return,” he pointed out.

Chalking out a road map for the country, he called for reducing the irregularity of information, reduce the number of points of interpretation of laws and asked for an increase in accountability.

He called the unique identification programme of the government as the building block of social justice and asked to focus on massive education so that inequality of opportunity is eradicated.

“India is at an interesting crossroad,” said Prahalad. “It must choose. The path to progress needs significant innovations and a discarding of the old and acceptance of the new,” he added.

He said the crisis in India is one of leadership. “There is no one who is willing to articulate a view of India and Indianness with clarity and force so that the country can come together and make the sacrifices needed to build a new India that the framers of the Constitution imagined,” he said

Comment: Karnataka being one of the most corrupt state accounts for more than its average and the lowest estimate gives Rs 25,000 crores

A senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer in Karnataka is under government scanner for sexual harassment following a complaint by a widow.

"Investigation is on," Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa told reporters responding to questions on the over two-year-old complaint by R. Yamini against D.K. Rangaswamy, who was at that time deputy commissioner of Bangalore Rural district.

The chief minister declined to elaborate on who is conducting the probe.

According to Yamini, the IAS officer sought sexual favours when she went to him for help to transfer her husband's land to her name following his death in 2007.

Yamini claimed that Rangaswamy knew her husband and had some land dealings with him.

Rangaswamy, a 1996 batch officer, is now director in the department of mass education.

Karnataka Ombudsman (Lokayukta) Santosh Hegde, a former judge of the Supreme Court, also had written to the government in May last year, calling for investigating Yamini's complaint against the IAS officer

In August last year, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was keynote speaker at the annual meeting of India’s premier anti-corruption agency, the CBI. There, addressing officers of the agency and state vigilance bureaus, he made a telling remark, “Our anti-corruption agencies must make the cost of corruption unacceptably high for those indulging in this evil practice.”

The prime minister’s advice was well received. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for a key ministry under his charge—the ministry of personnel. Not only has it failed to take action against corrupt bureaucrats, it has also failed to push for the ratification of a key United Nations convention against graft that would make it easier for the government to punish errant officials.

Instead, information gleaned by Outlook using the Right to Information Act shows that scores of officers from the IAS, IPS and other key services continue to get promoted, posted to sensitive positions and enjoy the benefits of power despite being chargesheeted by several anti-corruption agencies. Needless to say, this is in complete contravention of the service rules framed by the ministry of personnel and the Union home ministry

The ministry of personnel, the nodal agency for all IAS officers, is very clear on how to deal with such officers. In a letter-cum-memorandum issued on March 28, 2000 (No. 20011/4/92-AISII), the ministry categorically pointed out to chief secretaries of all states that such officers could not be promoted till the inquiry against them was over. In fact, a much older office memorandum of the Union home ministry is also categorical that “secretaries to ministries and heads of departments have the duty of locating and suitably dealing with corrupt officials”. So, it suggested that “public servants of doubtful integrity” be identified, their names enclosed in an “agreed list” and never be posted to sensitive positions…

The tale is not too different in the South. Nagambika Devi and Mahendra Jain, two IAS officers of the Karnataka cadre, should have been shunned years ago. While Nagambika was accused of misappropriating funds while serving as chief executive officer of the Uttara Kannada Zilla Panchayat and chargesheeted in October 2004, she continued to get her promotions on time. Currently, as commissioner, higher education, she has a major role in the sector.

Mahendra Jain is currently on central deputation to the commerce ministry. The Karnataka Lokayukta charged him in January 2009 with causing huge losses to the state exchequer when he was MD of Mysore Minerals, a state-owned company, between 2006-08. Jain was earlier private secretary to Deve Gowda when he was the prime minister. But unfazed by these charges, the ministry of personnel cleared his posting as a joint secretary-level officer under the Union commerce ministry, serving as the nodal officer for the special economic zone in Navi Mumbai…

Many senior IPS officers lead an equally charmed life. The Karnataka Lokayukta conducted several raids on the residences of Hemanth Nimbalkar, a young 1998 batch IPS man, in Belgaum, Kolhapur and Mumbai in March 2009. He was accused of amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income, running into crores. Suspended in May 2009 when he was attached to the anti-terror cell, he was recently reinstated as SP, intelligence. Jija Harisingh, a 1975 batch IPS officer, was charged by the state’s Lokayukta in January 2009 for causing losses running into several hundred crores to the state-owned Mysore Minerals during her tenure between 2004-06. But Jija is now a director-general of police rank officer even while the case is in the Karnataka High Court.

These are but a few of the hundreds of names of senior IAS and IPS officials who have been accused, in some cases even chargesheeted, but continue to serve in key positions, dealing with thousands of crores of rupees in public funds and affecting policy-making decisions that impact the lives of millions of ordinary citizens.

So what is to be done now? Well, ratifying the United Nations Convention Against Crime (UNCAC) would have made it mandatory for India to weed out corrupt bureaucrats. By accepting UNCAC’s binding provisions, the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government would have automatically got access to sensitive information such as details of bank accounts in Swiss banks, would have been able to extradite criminals and prevent money laundering. Instead, India has shied away from ratifying it for four years even after SAARC countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have done so. Worse, instead of toughening up anti-corruption laws—a mandatory requirement for ratifying the convention—the UPA government has actually ended up diluting laws such as the Prevention of Corruption Act.

It’s all well to comment about making the price of corruption “unacceptably high”, but it’s of no use when a key ministry, like personnel, which is directly under Dr Manmohan Singh, is so unhelpful. Unfortunately, rhetoric was all the PM could offer. This has ensured that the corrupt continue to prosper in India, currently ranked 84th—below Ghana, Trinidad and Tobago and Swaziland—in the list of most corrupt countries by Transparency International.

Developer says MD of Karnataka Public Land Corp Limited demanded money for transferring ownership of land he bought in a govt auction

Builder Yusuf Shariff (43) of Umrah Developers situated in Vasanth Nagar accused IAS officer Manjula V, the managing director of Karnataka Public Land Corporation Limited of lodging a false complaint of obstructing a public servant in the discharge of public duties against him after he refused to cough up a Rs 20-lakh bribe.

Encroached land

Shariff recently purchased a piece of land in the Bangalore rural district from the government after winning it in an auction. Reportedly, when Shariff went to take possession of the property, villagers who had encroached on the land threatened him.

When Shariff brought the matter to Manjulas notice, she reportedly assured him she would help him with getting the land freed.

Speed money

However, Shariff says, when he reached her office, the IAS officer demanded a Rs 20 lakh bribe from him if he wanted the papers of the property to be transferred to his name. Shariff says he refused to pay up.

"Manjula told me that she had to bribe people to reach her post. And that now she was merely recovering what she had to pay earlier," said Shariff.

On November 26, the IAS officer confronted him in the district collector's office and told him to not enter her office.

"I tried to tell her that it was a public office, which was open to anyone. Moreover, I had come to see the enforcement officer, not her. She got angry and her security staff beat me up and threw me out of the building," Shariff said.

Filing a complaint

Later in the day, Shariff approached the Lokayukta and filed a complaint against Manjula.

C S Anand, police inspector, Ulsoor Gate police station, told this reporter that cases of criminal intimidation, wrongful restraint and voluntarily causing hurt have been registered against Manjula.

"Shariff and Manjula had some dispute involving money in the past. While Manjula has complained about Shariff's unseemly behaviour, he claims she has been demanding some money for transferring the property documents to his name," Anand said.

Did you know?
The Karnataka Land Revenue Act empowers the district collector to auction land owned by the state government and hand it to the highest bidder after fencing the auctioned property.

BANGALORE: A fresh controversy has erupted over previous governor Rameshwar Thakur's letter giving a clean chit to former chief minister N Dharam Singh, in the alleged illegal mining scam
Thakur's letter, which reached the Lok Ayukta's office more than a week after it was written, reportedly states that Singh, as CM, took the decision in the interest of the public and could be let off in the alleged mining scam.

The big question now is: what caused the delay in Thakur's letter reaching the Lok Ayukta office? "The letter reached the office on July 6, while Thakur wrote it on June 23,'' sources said. He demitted office on June 29.

As per directions, Lok Ayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde inquired into the illegal mining activities from 2000 to 2007. The report highlighted that crores of royalty which the state government had lost was due to the nexus between politicians, bureaucrats, police and those in the mining business. The inquiry report also points a finger to Singh's tenure, during whose time the government lost revenue to the tune of over Rs 23 crore.

The loss caused to the exchequer by a former chief minister and 11 government servants, including one IPS and 6 IAS officials, in the scam is Rs 712.07 crore. The government has not made the report public and instead, appointed a three-member panel of IAS officers to go through the recommendations. "Initiate proceedings under Section 12(3) of the Lok Ayukta Act. A separate recommendation is made to the competent authority to initiate appropriate proceedings against the former CM for recovery of the loss,'' the report said.

Hegde, in his report, is said to have asked Thakur to initiate action against Singh for his alleged involvement. However, Thakur is said to have given Singh a clean chit before demitting office.

Meanwhile, chief secretary Sudhakar Rao, while submitting the action taken report (ATR) to the Lok Ayukta, reportedly told him that action should be taken against those named in the report.

With this development, the BJP, which has been accused of encouraging illegal mining activities, is preparing to put the blame squarely back on the Congress.

The other officers who have been named in the report are: V Umesh, I R Perumal, D S Aswath, Mahendra Jain, K S Manjunath (all IAS), Jija M Harisingh (IPS), H Srinivas, R Ramappa and Shankarlingaiah.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that had accused Manjula Rau, wife of BBMP Administrator Dilip Rau, of possessing assets disproportionate to her known sources of income, searched the couple’s house on Friday and found documents pertaining to 15 bank accounts in the name of the couple.

Sleuths of the bureau’s Anti-Corruption wing had gone to raid the house of the couple in MCHS Layout in BTM 2nd Stage on June 10. The raid could not be conducted because the house was locked as the couple were in the U.S. The CBI sleuths, who had pasted the search warrant on the house, commenced the search when the couple returned on Friday.

According to top official sources in the CBI, documents pertaining to 15 accounts in various banks, including a few private banks, were found during the search. The accounts were in the name of Mr. Rau and his wife.

The search team found 700 grams of gold in the house. However, there was no bank locker in their name. According to preliminary investigations, the couple had at least Rs. 1 crore worth property in Mysore and Bangalore, the sources said.

Later, the CBI sleuths raided the offices and houses of two realtors, who were close to the couple.

Once again I raise my voice against corruption in Karnataka. If you require I shall start giving you leads on corrupt practices in Karnataka. Please begin with my first lead. Go and raid the MD of NWKRTC Hubli, he has accepted a cash bribe from a battery manufacturer for a Purchase order worth Rs.10 Lakhs yesterday night at Bangalore bus stand portico at 10.25PM. Currently he is stationed at Bangalore along with his Deputy designated as Chief Mechanical Engineer. Let me see how much the current state government is capable.

I had experienced corruption within the offices of the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru – once I had to pay about Rs. 1,000 to get certain official papers. However, I have seen such things in Kerala too. Small officials taking small money is common in India. Nonetheless, I have had certain faith in the Leaders of the BJP – they simply would not tolerate it, so I had thought, having grown in the RSS shakhas all my life. I dismissed the charges of corruption by Shri Kumaraswamy ji that have appeared in the media against Shri Yedyurappa ji - till my own brother-in-law recently narrated to me his own experience.

Here are the facts as I was told: For his employer company to facilitate papers related to purchasing about 1000 acres of land for setting up a steel refinery in Gulbarga district, my brother-in-law was the courier of Rs. 1 crore to Shri Yedyurappa ji’s office. He vouched to me that he delivered it to CM’s PA in the CM’s office in the presence of the CM. Within minutes the money was distributed among the CM, concerned ministers, and top officials. He said Shri Yedyurappa ji is no different from any politician or government officer in Maharashtra where he had to routinely bribe to get things (such as mainly permits) done for his company’s steel plants located in Maharashtra.

I have no reason to believe that my brother-in-law has any axe to grind against the BJP or any politician. He is a matter-of-fact hands-on engineer who does not take any bribe. His integrity is well known to his employer, and hence he ends up carrying suitcases of big money to the movers and shakers in the land. With Yedyurappa ji and Reddy brothers at the helm, I am really worried about the health of the BJP in Karnataka. A good strategy to cleanly fix and strengthen the party in Karnataka is extremely urgent. Otherwise, we are awaiting a Tehelka story in the making. I hope Shri Prabhakara Bhat ji takes note and does something concrete to save the BJP in Karnataka. Otherwise we (Karnataka BJPians) are sure to be in vanavaasam for another 20-30 years

Senior IAS officer AS Srikanth whose name was associated with the Jakkur pilot training institute scam, seems to be favoured by the government. An external agency was appointed to run this prestigeous institute, raising suspicion on the IAS officer as he was involved. Srikanth, who is now secretary of higher education department, was secretary of Youth affairs department at that time. A COD inquiry into the scam alleged that Srikanth destroyed original records of the deal, and sought permission to file an FIR against him. The government is yet to take a decision on the COD's appeal. (Prajavani, Saturday, Feb 21)

MUKTSAR: A criminal case case was registered on Sunday against an IAS officer of Karnataka cadre, his parents and younger brother for demanding a Mercedes in dowry, showing cruelty to his wife and attempt to outrage her modesty.
The police acted on the complaint of Dr Preet Inder Kaur, a Muktsar resident posted as medical officer at a rural hospital, Bhagsar, near here. She was married to Ravneet Singh, a 2005-batch officer - posted as assistant commissioner, Bidar in Karnataka - on March 24, 2007.

In a complaint to Muktsar police, the doctor alleged that despite her father, a reputed doctor of Muktsar, spending over Rs 60 lakh on her wedding, she was harassed since the first day of her marriage for not bringing a Mercedes as as part of dowry. When she declined to meet the demand, her husband never had conjugal relations with her, she alleged.

The doctor has also accused the younger brother of the bureaucrat who belongs to Hoshiarpur of attempting to outrage her modesty.

According to her, her marriage was solemnized at Zirakpur, near Chandigarh, and besides jewellery and diamonds worth

Rs 15 lakh, Rs 20 lakh in cash was given as dowry to her in-laws at the time of marriage. When I declined to meet their demand of a Mercedes, my husband got annoyed and left for Bidar 15 days after we tied the knot, the doctor alleged.

She alleged she was subjected to all sorts of harassment at her in-laws' house and even her brother-in-law attempted to outrage her modesty. On August 16, 2007, my husband left me with my parents in Muktsar and never returned, she stated in a complaint to the police.

The officer's father rubbished the charges, saying, The allegations are a bundle of lies to tarnish the image of my family and my son. There was never a demand for dowry. Rather my son was subjected to mental harassment by his wife.
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In his book The Changing Face of Bureaucracy, Sanjoy Bagchi, himself a retired IAS officer has noted that "the knowledge about corrupt IAS officers is spontaneously known to their superiors and Ministers" and that "the real problem is that it is difficult to take disciplinary action against a corrupt IAS officer". According to him, "next to politicisation, the rising level of corruption is the biggest threat to (The Indian Administrative) Service." Besides, as The Tribune rightly noted, "being well-versed with the functioning of the complicated official machinery and cumbersome rules and regulations, they (the IAS officers) know the escape routes all too well".

Raids on IAS officer

Gulbarga Special Correspondent reports:

The sleuths searched the houses of IAS officer and the Commissioner of Social Welfare Baburao Mudabi in Bangalore and Bidar.

They also raided the houses of Superintendent of Police (Civil Rights Enforcement Cell) Pitambara Haraje in Gulbarga, Puttur and Belthangadi.

Raids were also conducted on the houses of the Joint Director of Commerce and Industries Srishail P. Kolar and Circle Inspector of Police Revanna.

Bangalore, Dec 19 - An Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and 12 other officials in Karnataka have been found to have amassed over Rs.300 million worth of assets through illegal means.

The residences and offices of the IAS officer and 12 other officials were searched Wednesday morning simultaneously by a team from Lokaytukta, the state anti-corruption body headed by retired judge of the Supreme Court, N. Santosh Hegde.

The other officials are two chief executive engineers, three executive engineers, one joint commissioner of commercial tax department, one medical superintendent, one regional transport officer and four motor vehicle inspectors.

Hegde identified the IAS officer as V. Chandrasekar. He has been recently posted as deputy commissioner of Bagalkot district in north Karnataka.

Earlier he served as deputy commissioner in the revenue department in the coffee-plantation rich Chickmagalur district.

Hegde told reporters the IAS officer was found to have assets worth over Rs.40 million.

'The raids began Wednesday morning in Bangalore city, Bangalore rural district, and in Haveri, Chikmagalur, Shimoga, Mandya and Chitradurga districts and the quantum of illegal wealth amassed by these officials should be even more than the preliminary estimates,' he said.

Lokayukta officials said the preliminary estimate of the wealth of the 13 was Rs.300 million.

All the officials owned moveable and immoveable assets in the city and other areas, Hegde said.

The Lokayukta has accused the IAS officers of pressurising the state Government into not granting the anti-corruption authority the power to initiate investigation against legislators and civil servants without complaints from the public

Bangalore Aug 8: Where have all the 3.8 lakh truckloads of silt claimed to have een removed by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike(BBMP) from the four valleys in the city gone>

The BBMP as per the details furnished to the State Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, has removed 14.52 cubic metres of silt from the four valleys- Vrushabhavati,Chellaghatta, Hebbal and Koramanagala and "dumped" them at the yards at Hennur Bande near Kadugondanahalli, Railway dumping yard at Sigehally , Bangalore University Land at Jnanabharathi,low lying areas of Nagarabhavi and several other places.

BBMP under the leadership of senior IAS officer K.Jairaj as its Commissioner had taken up desilting and remodelling of 250 km of valleys at a cost of Rs 643 Crore but the BBMP has nought sought perission from the Railways and the University authorities to dump the silt in their respective lands. Even the urban development department headed by the Chief Minister is not aware of the places where the silt ought to have been dumped.

... The fact that the contractors had inflated the bill by Rs 4 croree by claiming Rs 22.63 crore for desilting, transporting and dumping and the BBMP brought it down to Rs 18.6 crore itself can be seen as something "slushy"in the entire silt contract.

A War of attrition is raging in Karnataka between its anti-corruption agency head, the Lokayukta and former Supreme Court judge Justice N Santhosh Hegde and state’s legislators and bureaucrats, over a long pending move to increase the powers of the anti-corruption agency.

The Lokayukta, who recently cracked the whip on MLAs by making it mandatory for all legislators to annually declare their assets before him, is now pressing for powers to take up suo motu investigations into cases of corruption against legislators and state officials.

The Lokayukta has accused the IAS officers of pressurising the state Government into not granting the anti-corruption authority the power to initiate investigation against legislators and civil servants without complaints from the public. The Lokayukta has indicated that individual bureaucrats have petitioned the Chief Minister against the move.

Bangalore: Nineteen senior IAS, IPS and IFS officers in the State are facing inquiries for various irregularities, such as embezzlement, corruption in filling vacancies and sexual harassment.

These details were given by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who holds the Personnel and Administrative Reforms portfolio, in a written reply in the Legislative Assembly to Kyatsandra N. Rajanna of the Janata Dal (S).

Mr. Kumaraswamy said six IAS officers, including one principal secretary; five IPS officers, including one inspector-general of police; and eight IFS officers of the rank of conservator of forests are facing inquiries.

They are R.S. Sujata, A.K. Monappa, N. Nagambika Devi, ########(temporarily masked), G.L. Chandrashekariah and K. Shivaramu of the IAS; Jayaprakash V. Nayak, B. Srikanthappa, P. Muniswamy, Khaleel Ur Rahman and U.S. Baghel of the IPS; and A.M. Annaiah, H.S.S. Murthy, Punith Pathak, V. Ramakanth, Brijesh Kumar, Rajkumar Srivastava, K.S. Saibaba and S.D. Pathak of the IFS.

The inquiry against Ms. Sujata has to do with irregularities in implementing the Integrated Child Development Scheme when she was Director of the Department of Women and Child Development.

Mr. Monappa is facing an inquiry on the charge of corruption in the recruitment of headquarters assistants when he was Secretary of the Karnataka Public Service Commission.

Ms. Nagambika Devi is accused of embezzlement while serving as Chief Executive Officer of the Uttara Kannada Zilla Panchayat.

(temporarily masked) #############################################

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Mr. Chandrashekariah is facing corruption charges in filling vacant posts reserved for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates when he was Deputy Commissioner of Chamarajanagar district.

Mr. Shivaramu has been accused of misusing government funds in the implementation of vocational and computer training programme for unemployed Scheduled Caste candidates when he was Commissioner of the Social Welfare Department.

Mr. Nayak is being proceeded against for going to the U.S. without taking government permission. Mr. Srikanthappa is facing the charge of corruption in the disbursal of loans from a cooperative bank to Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) personnel when he was Deputy Commissioner of the KSRP. Mr. Muniswamy is accused of failing to submit remarks and records to the court.

BANGALORE: The Lokayukta police have decided to file charge-sheets against all government officials charged with corruption without waiting for government sanction.

The decision was taken at a meeting of superintendents of the Lokayukta police held here on Monday and Tuesday. It was attended by Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde, Upa Lokayukta G. Patri Basavanagoud and Additional Director General of Police (Lokayukta) Lalrokhuma Pachuau.

The move follows last week's Supreme Court judgment saying that no prior sanction of the Government was required to proceed against officers charged with corruption. Mr. Pachuau told the police officers assembled at the meeting to file charge-sheets in all the 110 cases pending with the Government for sanction. This includes the case of Indian Police Service officer Kempaiah that has been pending since 1993.

In the case of Mr. Kempaiah, the Lokayukta Police's request for prosecution sanction has been rejected by the Government thrice.

The other officers against whom charge-sheets will be filed include IAS officers P.B. Ramamurthy and I.R. Perumal; IFS officer S. Shantappa; and Karnataka Administrative Service officers C. Somashekar, A. Marigowda and Basappa Reddy.

On December 6, while dismissing the petitions filed by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi and former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, the Supreme Court gave its ruling on the sanction regarding officers charged with corruption.

The Lokayukta was handicapped for want of government sanction to prosecute officials under Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Despite repeated pleas, the Government was not forthcoming with the sanction. Quoting from the judgment, Mr. Hegde said the Supreme Court had provided immunity to government officials against criminal action for acts done in discharge of official duty.

"The apex court has made it clear that this immunity does not apply to officials who act for their own pleasure or benefit," Mr. Hegde told The Hindu.

HASSAN: Taking exception to the stand taken by Chief Secretary B.K. Das with regard to granting of sanction for prosecuting three senior officials, Lokayukta N. Venkatachala said the Government's silence in the matter shows that it concurs the "position" taken by the Chief Secretary.

Speaking to presspersons here on Tuesday on his way to Srikshetra Dharmasthala to participate in "Sarvadharma Sammelana", Mr. Venkatachala regretted the Government's response to his request regarding granting sanction to prosecute P.B. Ramamurthy, an IAS officer and former Director of Horticulture, Bangalore; C. Somashekar, a KAS officer and former Managing Director of Devaraj Urs Truck Terminus, Bangalore; and Kempaiah, Inspector-General of Police who was the Deputy Commissioner of Police (West), Bangalore. The Government, while rejecting the permission for prosecuting the three officials, pointed out that, the investigation officers had not considered several factors before booking cases against the officials.

Terming Mr. Das's stand as "impudent", the Lokayukta said the statement made by former clearly shows that it is bureaucrats who are running the Government, not the elected representatives. "It is unfortunate that a senior official such as Mr. Das is taking such decisions. By doing so, he is doing injustice to democratic principles," he said.

He said the Government';s silence over the issue only forces people to conclude that there is an unholy nexus between bureaucrats and elected representatives.

The situation has reached a stage where Ministers and elected representatives cannot function independently.

Government's weakness misused

Not hesitating to criticise the coalition Government, Mr. Venkatachala said there are inherent contradictions in the Government and Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh is admitting the limitations of the coalition experiment in public. On every occasion, Mr. Dharam Singh notes that it has become inevitable for him to run the Government "cautiously". Though Working President of Janata Dal (S) H.D. Kumaraswamy said an independent agency should look into the allegations levelled against people in top posts, Mr. Dharam Singh has not taken any action.

Holding the bureaucrats responsible for the problems being faced by the people, he said that despite Lokayukta recommending action against corrupt officials, the bureaucrats are not prepared to initiate action.

It is therefore necessary for the Government to accord authority to Lokayukta to review the works of bureaucrats on receiving complaints and act on the findings by initiating disciplinary action.

Disciplinary cases should be handed over to district judges, he said.

Hoping that introduction of Lokpal Bill will help contain corruption, Mr. Venkatachala said the authority to prosecute corrupt officials and elected representatives should be given to an independent agency.