B D Narayankar
Press Trust of India
Bangalore, Nov 14: Virtually disapproving the BJP
Government's recommendation to appoint retired judge S R
Bannurmath as the Karnataka Lokayukta, Governor H R Bhardwaj
today said he has asked Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda to
furnish more names to fill the vacant post.
"I have urged the Chief Minister to furnish at least four
more names for the appointment of new Lokayukta," he told
reporters on the sidelines of a function here two days after
citing 'technical defects' for not acting on the government's
recommendation.
Bhardwaj had said the government had not obtained the
consent of the state high court chief justice while
recommending the name of Bannurmath.
The post of Lokayukta is lying vacant for the past two
months after Justice Shivraj Patil quit following a land
controversy, with opinion divided between the government and
the opposition on appointing Bannurmath.
Bannurmath, a former Kerala High Court chief justice, is
facing allegations of securing allotment of a residential site
in Judicial layout, on a land earmarked for civic amenities.
Patil, a former supreme court judge who succeeded Santosh
Hegde in August, had quit over allotment of housing sites to
him and his wife in violation of rules.
The Lokayukta presently has only one Upa Lokyukta after R
Gururajan, the other Upa Lokayukta, had resigned last month
citing personal reasons.
Replying to a question, Bhardwaj said it was not advisable
for him to endorse former Karnataka High Court judge M F
Saldanha's suggestion to appoint a non-native as the Lokayukta
as it would hurt the people's sentiments.
"Though Justice Saldanha's suggestion is good, I cannot
advise the state government to appoint Lokayukta belonging to
a different state. People will question my loyalty towards
Karnataka," he said.
Declining to comment on state BJP President K S
Eshwarappa's remarks on scrapping of the Lokayukta, he said he
would not allow anybody to destabilise the institution.
On the transfer of Lokayukta ADGP Jeevankumar V Gaonkar, he
said it would hamper the probe against former chief minister B
S Yeddyurappa in corruption cases.
"I am not happy with Gaonkar's transfer as he was
investigating some high-profile corruption cases. I had also
opposed Pranab Mohanty's transfer from the post of Lokayukta
DIG to Bangalore city police," he said.
On the government's decision to close down 1,500 schools
with student strength of between six to ten from next academic
year, Bhardwaj said he would talk to Primary and Secondary
Education Minister Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri in this regard.
"I will discuss with Kageri before the matter comes up
before the Cabinet," he added.
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