Govt approves post of legal advisor to Lokayukta SIT

The State government on Saturday approved the post of legal advisor to the Lokayukta Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted to probe cases of illegal mining. Sources said that the appointee for the post is yet to finalised.

Three weeks ago, Lokayukta Justice Y Bhaskar Rao had written to the State government seeking the appointment of Vikas Bansode, an advocate from Delhi, as the legal advisor.

Bansode, who was legal aide to former Governor H R Bhardwaj, was also Officer on Special Duty for the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams.

Raj Bhavan sources said that Bansode was relieved from his post as legal aide to the Governor on Saturday evening.

“He was relieved from Raj Bhavan and moved to Delhi,” said a source.

Lokayukta sources said that the State government also cleared the terms and conditions for the post of legal advisor on Saturday.

A senior official from Lokayukta said that the State government has cleared the posting of Police Inspectors and DySPs to SIT in the last one week.

“The legal advisor’s post was included since cases with the SIT may reach up to the Supreme Court. His role is confined to cases with the SIT,” he said.

Chief Secretary Kaushik Mukherjee said that the name for the post of legal advisor will be finalised at the earliest.

The sanctioned manpower for the SIT, headed by Inspector General of Police K S R Charan Reddy, is 157 posts of police personnel, 35 posts of administrative staff and two advisors.

The SIT was formed in January 2014 to probe cases of illegal mining mentioned in the Lokayukta report (part-1 and part-2).