The Hindu : Karnataka News : `Corruption rampant during transfer of officials'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Nov 20, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Others

`Corruption rampant during transfer of officials'

By Our Staff Correspondent

The Lokayukta N. Venkatachala offering floral tributes to the ashes of Mahatma Gandhi during his visit to Kudligi town on Friday. Sudarshan, Head of Task Force for Health and Education, is seen.

KUDLIGI (BELLARY DIST.), NOV. 19. The Lokayukta, N. Venkatachala, said that prevention of corruption at the highest level at the time of transfers of officials and staff would be his next step.

Mr. Venkatachala, who is currently touring Bellary district, told presspersons here on Friday that so far he had not applied his mind in this regard.

As corruption was rampant and had been crossing limits during transfers, he was forced to accord top priority to curb it, he said.

He was of the view that elected representatives preferring to have officials and staff of their choice to work in their constituency was wrong.

He said that elected representatives should serve the public without any bias and ensure that injustice was not meted out while extending the welfare schemes of the Government.

Changes

He claimed that compared to the other States where corruption was rampant, Karnataka was better and people were raising their voice against corruption after he assumed charge of Lokayukta.

"Changes are taking place. Corruption should be eradicated in toto through a peoples' movement," he said. The aim of the tour of the districts and taluks in the State was to fight against injustice that was being meted out to people by officials, he added.

Mr. Venkatachala said that he had found that the officials in Kudligi were not discharging their duties properly and were "cheating" the people.

He said that he had directed the tahsildar to look into the matter and initiate disciplinary action against those found guilty.

He said that the Regional Transport Officer (RTO) had been instructed to check the iron ore loads being transported from the district and initiate action if the lorries were over-loaded.

The Lok Ayukta, who toured Sandur taluk on Thursday, instructed the Deputy Commissioner and the chief executive officer of the zilla panchayat to place four government employees under suspension.

The Lok Ayukta, who reviewed the functioning of the taluk panchayat, found of misappropriation of funds in purchases. There were a lot of complaints of corruption against the officials. After an inquiry, he recommended the suspension of a Revenue Inspector and a second division clerk.

Krishna Nayak alleged that the president of the taluk panchayat, the chief officer, and a few members had a "share" in all the purchases.

`No tenders'

Mr. Venkatachala, who visited the taluk panchayat office, found that purchases were made without any tenders and several transparency norms had been violated.

He said that the case should be handed over to the Corps of Detectives for a thorough inquiry. He also recommended the suspension of two officials.

At the sub-registrar office, he received a lot of complaints by the people. Inquiries that Srikant was functioning as a "defacto" officer and the sub-registrar, Y. Kolhapuri, admitted that she had appointed him on a daily wage basis.

Sudarshan, Head of the Task force on Education and Health; S.N. Jayaram, Deputy Commissioner; and G.S. Shivaswamy, chief executive officer, were present.

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