Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra said the State government would initiate steps to appoint a new Lokayukta at the earliest in the wake of Justice Y Bhaskar Rao resigning from his post.
Speaking to reporters, he said the government would soon write to Chief Justice of Karnataka Subhro Kamal Mukherjee urging him to recommend names for appointing the new Lokayukta. Only those who have served as a judge of the Supreme Court or as the Chief Justice of a High Court or as a High Court judge for a minimum of 10 years will be eligible to become the Lokayukta, as per the Karnataka Lokayukta Act, he said.
The law minister welcomed Justice Rao’s resignation and said he had ended the longdrawn confusion in the Lokayukta institution against whom serious charges of corruption were made.
“There was strong public opinion that he (Justice Rao) should resign. The State legislature had also moved a motion seeking his removal. He has finally resigned,” he said.
Jayachandra said the motion recently admitted by the Legislative Assembly on the removal of the Lokayukta would automatically become null and void following the resignation of Justice Rao. The government has no intention of taking away the powers of the Lokayukta by diluting the Lokayukta Act, he said. Jayachandra said he would soon convene a meeting of representatives of all Kannada TV channels to discuss the possibility of banning astrology programmes. “We talk of digital India and technological development. We should rein in those who take gullible people for a ride in the name of astrology. Some of the TV programmes related to astrology are misleading,” he said.
On the move to ban superstitious practices in the State, Jayachandra said the government had got a report from the Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh governments, which had banned certain superstitious practices. The law department will examine those reports and finalise a draft legislation prepared by the Social Welfare department, he said.
Published 08 December 2015, 20:01 IST