NGO to challenge transfer in SC

SPS Executive Director S R Hiremath said here on Saturday that he suspected the role of former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa in the transfer of the ADGP. It is a ploy to delay inquiry into several scams and cases involving the BJP ministers in the Lokayukta court, he alleged.

He said the government cannot transfer any official while the investigation is in progress. Hiremath challenged the propriety of appointing ‘tainted’ DGP J Arun Chakravarthy as well as ADGP H N Satyanarayan Rao, whom he termed ‘ineligible,’ to the Lokayukta.

He said cases were pending in the Lokayukta court against Arun Chakravarthy.  The Government’s decision to constitute a team headed by Additional Chief Secretary K Jairaj to review the Lokayukta report on the illegal mining is a “conspiracy” to dilute the report in order to shield the elected representatives and officials indicted in the report, he said.

Hiremath appreciated the report submitted by the Dehradun-based ICFRE (Indian Council of Forest Research and Education) on the impact of mining on ecology in Tumkur, Chitradurga and Bellary. But, he objected to its recommendation for permitting mining in the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats and extracting 25 million metric tonne of ore a year in Bellary.