There are around eight to 10 enquiries pending before the Karnataka Upalokayukta under the Lokayukta Act, involving senior officers - including an IAS officer, a director and chief engineer level officers.

“We could not go ahead and investigate into these cases because these officers don’t come under my jurisdiction of instituting a suo motu enquiry, and the Lokayukta does not have the suo motu powers,” said Upalokayukta Justice Patri Basanagoud on Monday.

Speaking on the sidelines of a press meet in Bangalore, the Upalokayukta said that in the Turahalli forest land scam, one of the main ‘accused’ is an IAS officer; in another case, the director of printing and stationery has been named as an accused, and a chief engineer in another case - but no action could be taken against them because the Lokayukta does not have suo motu powers. “I have suo motu powers, but they are only regarding officers below the level of Class One officers. An officer with a salary of Rs 20,000 (basic) and above comes under the jurisdiction of the Lokayukta,” said the Upalokayukta.

Unfortunately, he does not have suo motu powers to institute an enquiry against them under the Lokayukta Act, and no one wants to come forward and file a complaint against them, he added. He said that despite lack of power, the Lokayukta is finding ways and means to bring the corrupt to book.

“We read a news item that a former MLA was involved in an illegal layout in Bangalore. We tried to find out the engineers who okayed the plan. Fortunately, one of the buyers, who had bought a site in the layout, lodged a complaint on the matter with the Lokayukta police. The Lokayukta is now looking into the complaint,” he said. Absence of absolute powers is misused by the accused officers, said Justice Goud.

“In Bagalkot, on receiving a complaint regarding a scam in a watershed project, the ADG, Lokayukta police, filed a complaint under Section 13 (1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act against the accused. The latter got a stay on the case from the High Court. We are now trying to get the order vacated,” he said.

Raid cases in 2007
* 36 - Raid; against government officers for amassing income disproportionate to their known sources of income.
* 225 - Trap cases in which govt servants were caught red handed accepting bribe. 
* 130 - cases chargesheeted 
* 159 cases disposed. 21 ended in conviction, 130 in acquittal and eight others were disposed of as the accused died during the trial. 
* Rs 70 crore property seized in raid cases.
* 21,131 cases pending before the Lokayukta, (16,897 before the Upalokayukta & 4,234
before the Lokayukta).