The Hindu : Front Page : Government, Lokayukta lock horns over cases

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 27, 2005

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Government, Lokayukta lock horns over cases

Raghava M

The controversy relates to the granting of sanction for prosecuting three senior officials `The Government has to look into whether a case is made out from the available records and give permission for prosecution'

BANGALORE: The State Government's response to the request by the Lokayukta for granting sanction to prosecute three officials has led to a fresh controversy over the Government's attitude towards the cases investigated by the Lokayukta police.

This relates to the cases booked against P.B. Ramamurthy, an IAS officer and former Director of Horticulture, Bangalore; C. Somashekar, a KAS officer and former Managing Director of Devaraj Urs Truck Terminals, Bangalore; and Kempaiah, Inspector-General of Police, who was the Deputy Commissioner of Police (West), Bangalore.

The Government, while rejecting the permission for prosecuting the three officials, pointed out that the investigation officers had not considered many factors before booking cases against the officials.

Lokayukta N. Venkatachala counters this by stating that it was not for the Government to look into the details of the investigation. "The Government has to look into whether a case is made out from the available records and give permission for prosecution. It is for the courts to observe whether there are discrepancies in the investigation of cases," he said. The Lokayukta had sent cases booked against government officials under the Prevention of Corruption Act to the Government seeking prosecution sanction. They included 17 booked against officials for possessing assets disproportionate to their known sources of income and 36 against those who were caught while allegedly demanding and accepting bribe.

The Government refused to give sanction in respect of seven officials. This included Mr. Ramamurthy, Mr. Somashekar, and Mr. Kempaiah. The cases were booked against the three officials for possessing assets disproportionate to their known sources of income.

In the case pertaining to Mr. Ramamurthy, Chief Secretary B.K. Das pointed out that the investigation officer had erred in considering the assets of the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) of the official, assets of the official's wife, and assets of the official's brother, as that of the official. After analysing the records submitted by the investigation officer and the submissions of Mr. Ramamurthy, the Chief Secretary came to the conclusion that the income of Mr. Ramamurthy was not disproportionate to his known sources of income. Similar were the observations made while declining sanction for prosecuting Mr. Somashekar and Mr. Kempaiah. Mr. Venkatachala said: "such reasons are only cited in cases to protect some officials."

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