By IANS,
Bangalore: Karnataka Lokayukta (ombudsman) N. Santosh Hegde Sunday ticked off central Law Minister Veerappa Moily, saying he does not need a certificate from him on his functioning.
“I don’t need a certificate from Veerappa Moily. It is enough if I get a certificate from the people of Karnataka,” Hegde, a retired Supreme Court judge, told reporters here.
He was reacting to Moily’s statement Saturday that Hegde “starts a probe but does not complete it and his actions against corruption were superficial”.
Moily had made the statement at a press meet at Congress office here. He also disagreed with Hegde’s stand that the Lokayutka should be given more powers.
“Adequate powers have been given to the Lokayukta,” Moily asserted.
“I am not a person like that. Let him cite one instance,” Hegde shot back angrily when reporters sought his reaction to Moily’s comments.
Hegde also reminded Moily that he had got him out of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha payoffs case by arguing the case without taking even a rupee as fee.
“He may have forgotten that it was I who argued for him and got him out of the JMM scam (payoffs case) in a Delhi court when he (Moily) was the chief minister without charging a fee of one rupee,” Hegde said.
The JMM scam rocked the then prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao in 1993. The JMM Lok Sabha members were allegedly paid over Rs.3 crore for their support to the Rao government to defeat a no-confidence motion.
Moily and several others accused in the case were acquitted.
Following Hegde’s strong reaction to his comments, Moily Sunday sought to close the issue saying he did not have anything to say.
“I have great regard for Hegde. What I am saying is Lokauktas in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh have been given adequate powers. If he says he was using those powers, then it is fine. Let us leave it at that,” Moily told reporters in his constituency Chikkaballapur in central Karnataka.