The Hindu : Lokayukta declines to probe KPSC scam

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 28, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

Lokayukta declines to probe KPSC scam

By Anil Sastry

BANGALORE Sept. 27. The "delaying tactics" adopted by the Government in initiating disciplinary action against officials accused of malpractice in the Gazetted Probationers Group A and B main examination (1998 batch) appear to have failed with the Lokayukta declining to hold "one more" inquiry into the irregularities.

The Lokayukta, Justice N. Venkatachala, has returned the files to the Government stating that the inquiries — one by the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) and the other by K.K. Mishra, Additional Chief Secretary, — were sufficient to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the accused.

The Lokayukta has stated that even if he gives his report, it will also be a preliminary one like the KPSC report or the Mishra report. He has asked the Government to proceed with a regular inquiry. It may be mentioned here that the Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, had announced in the legislature recently that the Lokayukta would be requested to hold an inquiry into the irregularities.

Mr. Justice Venkatachala confirmed to The Hindu that the files had bee returned to the Government. When pointed out that the Mishra report did not specifically accuse any person, the Lokayukta said that the KPSC report had specifically indicted the then Secretary to the commission, A.K. Monnappa, a KAS officer-cum-candidate, K. Rameshwarappa, and the chief examiner, K. S. Shivanna. The KPSC report was sufficient to initiate disciplinary proceedings against them, he said.

He noted that even if he gave the report, it would not be final and it would have to be followed by a regular inquiry. If his report contradicted the other two reports, the Government would be in a fix, he said. Mr. Justice Venkatachala advised the Government that it would not be pleasant to seek reports one after the other on the same subject. Selection of gazetted officers to government service of the 1998 batch has not been completed and the matter is before the Supreme Court. The selection got delayed due to the controversy over the rural weightage scheme till 2001. When everything appeared to have been settled, the issue of irregularities in the examination surfaced, leading the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal to direct KPSC to evaluate the answer scripts of the main examination afresh.

The KPSC appealed against the KAT order in the High Court and, meanwhile, held an in-house inquiry. It found that Mr. Monnappa, who was the custodian of the register number codes, parted with some of them to favour Mr. Rameshwarappa, his brother-in-law, B.S. Nagaraj, and sisters-in-law, B.S. Triveni and B.S. Hemavathi. The commission found that Prof. Shivanna had aided these persons. Apart from Mr. Rameshwarappa and his relatives, some more candidates were also found to have indulged in the malpractice. The KPSC debarred all of them from appearing in any examination conducted by it and recommended to the Government on November 12, 2002, to take action against Mr. Monnappa and Mr. Rameshwarappa.

The Government, however, ordered one more inquiry by Mr. Mishra who, apart from accepting that irregularities occurred in the examination, did not specifically accuse anybody. He recommended an inquiry by the Lokayukta.

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