Illegal mining: Five officers to face action

Though the state government had claimed that it would initiate immediate disciplinary action against the five officers in its affidavit filed before the Supreme Court on April 21, it is yet do so.    

Sources in the department say that notices will be issued to the five officers only after their colleagues involved in illegal mining were identified from its records, so that all were served the notices simultaneously.

Manoj Kumar Shukla, Chief Conservator of Forests, Bellary, P Rajashekharan, DFO Bellary, T V Srinivasan, ACF Bellary, Mahesh Patil, RFO Belikere and H C Rangaraju, ACF Bellary are the officers indicted by the CEC.

While the DPAR will initiate action against the All India Service officers, departments including mines and geology will take action against officers of lesser rank. Another list of tainted officers is being anticipated with the Lokayukta set to release its second part of the mining report by June.