Former Lokayukta Santosh Hegde has said a person in public life need not wear costly watches.

“Obviously, questions arise over the source of money for purchasing a costly watch,” Hegde said reacting to a question on the row over Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wristwatch here on Monday. Hegde said the functioning of the institution of Lokayukta certainly affected politicians and officials and hence the government may have been delaying the appointment of a Lokayukta in Karnataka.

Later, delivering a talk at the local court, Hegde said there should not be any discrimination in the Judiciary. He referred to the cases of Bollywood actor Salman Khan and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to make a point.

“I won’t comment on the judgement in these cases.

But, in the case of Jayalalithaa, an order is passed to dispose of the case within three months of the Supreme Court granting bail. But, thousands of cases have been pending in courts for more than 10 years and people behind bars are anxiously waiting to secure bail. What is the need to dispose of only this case within three months?” he wanted to know.

Similarly, in Salman Khan’s case, the session court pronounced its sentence at 3 pm and the High Court granted bail at 4 pm. The case is disposed of in a short span of two months.

“At a time when several cases deserving immediate attention of the courts are pending for several years, disposing of a few cases in a short span of time sends a wrong message,” Hegde noted.