Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore   

Action against four CMC officials stayed

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE DEC. 20. The High Court of Karnataka on Friday stayed further proceedings against four of the 22 officials who were indicted by the Lokayukta recently for alleged misappropriation of funds and other irregularities in the city municipal councils (CMCs) around Bangalore.

The petitioners, Shivabasavaiah and three others, had filed a writ petition seeking quashing of the Lokayukta report of November 21, 2003, with its findings and recommendations to the State Government.

In their petition, the then Commissioner of the Dasarahalli CMC, Shivabasavaiah, the then Commissioner of Pattangere CMC, H.R. Jagadish, the then Commissioner of Pattangere CMC, S. Krishna, and the then Commissioner of Byatarayanapura CMC, T.H. Vishwanath, submitted that the Lokayukta inspected the CMC offices in 2002. The Government authorised an investigation of the process of authorisation for drawing additional stamp duty made by the Stamps and Registration Department, facilitations of drawing the duty by the treasuries concerned, and misappropriation of overdrawn amounts by the eight local bodies adjoining Bangalore.

The petitioners challenged the Lokayukta report and sub-section 2 of Section 9 of the Lokayukta Act of 1984, which stated that every complaint should be supported by an affidavit. They said that in none of the cases was a valid complaint filed, and therefore the Lokayukta report was illegal, improper, and erroneous, and liable to be set aside. They maintained that the Lokayukta had erred in not following the mandatory provisions of sub-section 3 of Section 9 of the Lokayukta Act, which contemplated furnishing a copy of the complaint with enclosures to the petitioners and giving them opportunity to reply to complaints. Besides, copies of the depositions of the witnesses had not been furnished, they said.

The petitioners said the Lokayukta had no jurisdiction to conduct an inquiry or investigate any complaint or allegation against them. Justice Rangavittalachar stayed for three weeks further proceedings against the four officials.

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