Three officers facing graft charges let off the hook

The State Cabinet on Thursday rejected the Lokayukta recommendations to take action against an IFS officer and a KAS officer for their involvement in different cases of irregularities, including illegal sand mining.

The Cabinet also let off a retired IAS officer who was facing charges in connection with the 2011 KPSC recruitment scam. Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra said the Cabinet decided not to take action against retired IAS officer K R Sundar, the then KPSC secretary. The CID has not been able to prove any of the charges against the officer in connection with the recruitment scam. However, it has been found that CCTVs were not functioning properly at the KPSC when he was the secretary. A departmental inquiry will be conducted in this regard, he added.

The Lokayukta had recommended disciplinary action against IFS officer S Shekar, the then Chief Executive Officer of Kalaburagi Zilla Panchayat for releasing Rs 65 lakh to the officer in charge of sports and youth affairs. There were charges of misuse of money by the officials of sports and youth affairs.

“Shekar had only released the money and he was not in that post (CEO of ZP) when the money was spent. Hence, the decision to reject the Lokayukta report,” the Law Minister said.

The Upalokayukta had recommended action against KAS officer Shashidhara Bagali, the then tahsildar of Jamakhandi taluk, on charges of involvement in an illegal sand mining case.

“The Upalokayukta report was not a comprehensive one. Officials of the departments of Mines and Geology, Police, PWD and Revenue are also involved. Moreover, the officer had held the post for only 15 days. There is no mention of two other tahsildars who held the post at that time. Hence the Cabinet decided to reject the recommendation,” Jayachandra said.

Instead, the Minister said, the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah decided to conduct a departmental inquiry into all three cases. The departmental inquiry into the sand mining case will look into the involvement of all three tahsildars who held the post when the illegality took place.

The Cabinet, however, decided to dismiss from service senior Assistant Public Prosecutor of Principal Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Chikkamagaluru, in connection with a Lokayukta trap case.

Convention centre

The Cabinet approved a design prepared by Australian consultancy firm Populous Design Pvt Ltd for constructing the Bengaluru International Convention Centre near Kempe Gowda International Airport. The centre will be built at an estimated cost of Rs 410 crore on a 50-acre land. The Infrastructure Development department will soon call global tenders to implement the project on public private partnership basis, Jayachandra said.

Airport

The Cabinet also decided to entrust the responsibility of constructing the incomplete Kalaburagi greenfield airport to the PWD. The decision was taken after the Airports Authority of India rejected the government's request to take up the project, the work on which has remained suspended for the last three years.

Other decisions

Recommend retired chief justice of Karnataka High Court K Bhaktavatsala for the post of chairman of Karnataka Administrative Tribunal

Approval for Bidar ring road project at a cost of Rs 101 crore

Allot 1,339 sq mt of land to Durgadevi Banjara Seva Sangha, Vijayapura, for educational purposes.