JOIN USGovernor Vajubhai Vala on Thursday approved the name of Justice P Vishwanath Shetty for the post of Lokayukta.
Raj Bhavan is yet to announce the date for the swearing-in. The post had remained vacant since December 2015, when Justice Y Bhaskar Rao resigned over charges of corruption and extortion at his office.
Vala had recently directed Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to reconsider Shetty’s name, following complaints that he had obtained a plot at Judicial Layout in Bengaluru on the basis of a false affidavit.
An NGO had submitted documents to Raj Bhavan, charging Shetty and his family with buying three residential plots and seven acres of agricultural land in violation of rules.
Vala had subsequently sought a clarification from Siddaramaiah. He had also directed the government to make recommendations only after consultation and thorough verification.
In his reply, Siddaramaiah said many High Court judges had been allotted sites in the past. No court had held the grant of the site or the purchase of land illegal, he contended.
Shetty was chosen after consultations with a high-level committee comprising Chief Justice S K Mukherjee, presiding officers of the two Houses of the legislature, and leaders of the opposition, Siddaramaiah told Vala.
Shetty’s name had been endorsed by all panel members, he informed the Governor.
Earlier, Vala had refused to appoint Justice S R Nayak, recommended by the government, as Lokayukta.
One of the grounds for rejecting Nayak’s name was the charge that he had obtained a site by submitting a false affidavit.
DH News Service