HC junks plea against Justice Rao as Lokayukta

The High Court on Monday dismissed a petition against Justice (retd) Y Bhaskar Rao holding the post of Lokayukta.

The petitioner, Anti-Corruption Council of India Trust, argued that Justice Rao hadn’t surrendered the post of senior counsel in the Supreme Court after being appointed the Karnataka Lokayukta in 2013, as Bar Council of India rules mandate. He had enrolled as senior counsel in the Supreme Court in 2001, a year after retiring as chief justice of the High Court of Karnataka. His name appeared in this year’s list of senior counsels in the Supreme Court.

The petitioner also urged the court to call for all records pertaining to Justice Rao’s appointment as Lokayukta as well as probe into his “misuse” of state machinery. But a division bench of acting Chief Justice S K Mukherjee and Justice B V Nagarathna dismissed the petition, citing a delay in filing it and asserting there was insufficient material that Justice Rao was still practising in the Supreme Court.