2011 was a roller coaster ride for Lokayukta
From being a bugbear for politicians to a headless wonder, the year was a mixed bag for the watchdog
The Karnataka Lokayukta was, perhaps, the most widely discussed institution in the State in 2011. The office of the anti-corruption ombudsman saw both the rise and fall in its fame and effectiveness in the span of 12 months.
With its frequent raids and sting operations, the Lokayukta had not only become a nightmare for corrupt officials and politicians over the years, but was seen as the ray of hope by the common man.
The institution was, as a result, held in high esteem by people who were fed up of rampant corruption in the government.
The anti-corruption watchdog, headed by then Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde, created political upheavals in the State with its explosive report on illegal mining.
The Lokayukta indicted then chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, his cabinet colleagues and the all-powerful Bellary Reddy brothers - G Janardhan Reddy and G Karunakara Reddy - and their associate B Sriramulu in the illegal mining scam.
First CM to be indicted
Yeddyurappa was the first chief minister to be indicted by the Lokayukta.
While Yeddyurappa was charged of making illegal gains by favouring a mining company, the Bellary trio had allegedly illegally mined and shipped out several lakhs of tonnes of iron ore.
The findings of the report, which was submitted to the State government in July, changed the State's political picture with Yeddyurappa and his tainted colleagues being forced to resign. Subsequently, Sadananda Gowda replaced Yeddyurappa.
The Lokayukta report, which pegged the total loss to the exchequer due to illegal mining at about Rs 16,000 crore in a span of five years, also indicted over 600 government officials of all ranks for looting the mineral wealth of the State, mainly in the iron-ore rich Bellary district.
Apart from illegal mining, the Lokayukta cracked the whip on Yeddyurappa and a number of cabinet ministers and ruling party MLAs for their alleged involvement in the government land denotification scam.
Yeddyurappa, Katta Subramanya Naidu and S N Krishnaiah Setty (both former ministers) were put behind bars in connection with the land scam.
Disrepute to Lokayukta
Fearing increasing action by the Lokayukta, a section of politicians in all three major political parties - BJP, Congress and JD(S) - started vying with each other to bring disrepute to the institution. The illegal mining report was leaked a few days before its official release and Justice Hegde was blamed for "spoiling the sanctity of the report."
Accusation
He was also accused of nurturing political ambitions. However, efforts to damage the credibility of the institution did not yield any result as long as Justice Hegde was in office.
But his retirement in the first week of August, perhaps, marked the beginning of the downfall of the institution as an effective anti-corruption watchdog.
Justice Shivaraj Patil, who succeeded Justice Hegde, resigned within one-and-a-half months after assuming office, following allegation of illegally obtaining two sites from housing cooperative societies in Bangalore.
The controversy surrounding Justice Patil's exit came as an opportunity for the corrupt section of politicians to weaken the powerful institution.
Violation of the rulebook
The government recommended to Governor H R Bhardwaj to appoint former chief justice of Kerala High Court S R Bannurmath as the Lokayukta. It was subsequently revealed that Justice Bannurmath too had obtained sites from housing cooperative societies in violation of the rule book.
The Governor, as a result, refused to appoint Justice Bannurmath as the Lokayukta
and asked the government to recommend some other name. Governor H R Bhardwaj has been maintaining that he wants to appoint a person with an impeccable record to the post of Lokayukta.
The government refused to budge and asked the Governor to formally reject Justice Bannurmath’s name citing reasons, for it to recommend a fresh name.
The standoff between the government and the Governor has rendered headless for over three months now.
In the absence of the head, several police officers in the institution were transferred. Some of them even received threatening calls from politicians.
As the institution is growing weaker, politicians against whom prosecution proceedings are underway before the Special Lokayukta Court, have started getting clean chits.
Recently, the Lokayukta police filed a B report in the land denotification case pertaining to Home and Transport Minister R Ashoka, citing lack of
evidence.
