'Tainted' BDA man goes on leave, not suspended

A day after joining work following a week in judicial custody, tainted BDA official M R Hiremath went on a week-long leave on Wednesday.

The Deputy Commissioner (Land Acquisition) was caught accepting a bribe of Rs 5 lakh for denotifying lands in Thanisandra. Although senior police officials in the Lokayukta maintained that the letter suspending him has already been dispatched to the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR), Hiremath is yet to receive the order.

Principal Secretary of Urban Development Department Amita Prasad said they had received no report on Hiremath from the Lokayukta. “All we have is a letter sent by BDA which we have forwarded to DPAR. Apart from this, we have only seen the news reports,” she said.

As Hiremath is a deputy commissioner, his suspension orders will be issued directly from the DPAR. However, DPAR Principal Secretary Sanjiv Kumar said he was “not aware” of the case.

The Karnataka Civil Service Rules clearly states that any officer who has spent 48 hours in jail is deemed suspended. During the hearing of his bail application, Hiremath’s counsel too submitted to the special Lokayukta court that his client was deemed suspended.