'40% commission' allegation: Karnataka govt forms study panel

Under pressure to give credence to its pre-poll “40 per cent commission” allegation against the BJP, the Congress government has formed a new committee to study a judicial commission’s report that did not find any conclusive evidence to back the charge. 

The state government has issued an order appointing retired IAS officer Sudhir Krishna as the head of a committee to study the Justice H N Nagamohan Das Commission’s report on corruption allegations in public works carried out between July 26, 2019 and March 31, 2023, the period during which the BJP was in power.

Krishna’s committee has retired chief engineers Srinivas, K P Shivakumar among others as members. 

In August 2023, the Congress government asked Justice Das to probe the “40% commission” allegation, which became the warcry against the then BJP regime. 

However, in its report to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in March 2025, the Justice Das Commission stated that the Karnataka State Contractors Association (KSCA) had failed to prove its corruption allegation. The KSCA gave Justice Das documents running into 1,593 pages, but none contained any evidence to corroborate the claim, according to the report. 

“The 40% commission allegation may not be 100% true,” the Commission concluded. 

Justice Das’ Commission found several cases of procedural lapses in works that were taken up between July 26, 2019 and March 31, 2023. The “delays in the pre- and post-tender processes, legal violations and nepotism” showed corruption, it said. But evidence for the claim that ministers, elected representatives and officials sought kickbacks as high as 40% of a tender’s cost was not forthcoming. 

However, Justice Das found merit in kickback allegations levelled against former BJP lawmakers G H Thippareddy (Chitradurga) and Roopali Naik (Karwar). Corruption allegations against Public Works Department (PWD) engineer S F Patil was also found to be genuine. This was based on testimonies of contractors.

Contractors R Manjunath and Madhava Babu Naik testified before Justice Das on corruption charges against Thippareddy and Roopali Naik, respectively. Another contractor Mallanagouda Sankagouda Shani testified against Patil.

Recently, Justice Das gave another report to the government on irregularities to the tune of Rs 3,049.35 crore under the now-dissolved Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) between 2019 and 2022 when the BJP was in power.