By IANS,
Bangalore: Karnataka Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde Monday said he would submit his report on illegal mining in the state Wednesday, shifting the spotlight on what action he has recommended against Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and others named in the document.
Hegde has told IANS in an exclusive interview that there was “an element of criminality on the part of the chief minister as he heads the mining department and is responsible for all acts of omission and commission in it”.
The Lokayukta Act empowers Hegde to recommend that a public servant should quit his office.
Section 13 of the act says, “Public servant to vacate office if directed by Lokayukta etc.”
It says if the Lokayukta or an Upalokayukta (deputy ombudsman) “is satisfied that the complaint involving an allegation against the public servant is substantiated and that the public servant concerned should not continue to hold the post held by him, the Lokayukta or the Upalokayukta shall make a declaration to that effect in his report under sub-section (3) of section 12”.
Hegde so far has not given any indication on the action he will recommend against those named in the report.
Besides Yeddyurappa, the others he has named in the mining scam are: mining magnates Reddy brothers – Tourism Minister G. Janardhana and his elder brother, Revenue Minister G. Karunakara – their associate and Health Minister B. Sriramulu, and Yeddyurappa’s staunch loyalist, Civil Supplies Minister V. Somanna.
The report also names former chief minister and Janata Dal-secular leader H.D. Kumaraswamy and Congress Rajya Sabha member and mining baron Anil Lad.
The act provides for acceptance or rejection of the Lokayukta report within three months.
“If it is not rejected within a period of three months from the date of receipt of the report, or the copy of the report, as the case may be, it shall be deemed to have been accepted on the expiry of the said period of three months,” the act says.