Amid controversy, 2nd Upa Lokayukta takes charge in Karnataka

Amid controversy over his appointment, retired High Court judge Chandrashekaraiah was today sworn-in as second Upa Lokayukta in Karnataka.

Governor H R Bhardwaj administered the oath of office to the 70-year-old Chandrashekaraiah, who had also served as the President of Karnataka State Consumer Redressal Commission, at Raj Bhavan.

He comes in the place of Justice (Retd) R Gururajan, who resigned in October citing health reasons. Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister S Suresh Kumar, Home and Transport Minister R Ashoka, JDS leader H D Revanna were prominent among those who attended the ceremony, where Chief Minister D V Sadananda was conspicuous by his absence.

Chandrashekaraiah was reportedly allotted a 4,000 square feet prime site in Judicial Layout in 1997, when he was already owning a house in Banashankari-II stage, allegedly in violation of housing society bye laws.

He yesterday sought to downplay the issue, pointing to a Supreme Court ruling which upheld dismissal of a case challenging the owning of sites by the judges, and questioned "raking up" the controversy. Chandrashekaraiah said he was not the only judge who was allotted a site. Chandrashekaraiah served as Judge of the Karnataka High Court between 1995 and 2004 and as the Commission President between 2004 and 2009.

Justice S B Majage is the other Upa Lokayukta.