The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Cabinet orders judicial probe into `lapses' in mining sector

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 22, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Cabinet orders judicial probe into `lapses' in mining sector

Staff Reporter

Demand for CBI inquiry rejected; the probe will cover allegations made earlier also

BANGALORE: The Cabinet, which met here on Friday, decided to order a judicial inquiry into the alleged irregularities that have taken place in the mining sector in the State as also the bribery charges against Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and two members of the Cabinet, M.P. Prakash (Home and Law) and C. Chennigappa (Forest).

The Cabinet has rejected the demand of the Congress and other parties for a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry. By opting for an omnibus judicial inquiry, the Cabinet intends to bring under the ambit of the commission the irregularities in the mining sector that allegedly took place during the tenure of the earlier Governments too. It will no doubt go into the allegations levelled by the suspended BJP MLC Janardhan Reddy.

Briefing presspersons about the decisions taken at the Cabinet meeting chaired by Mr. Kumaraswamy, Primary Education Minister Basavaraj Horatti said the terms of reference of the judicial probe and whether it would be headed by a sitting or retired judge of the High Court or Supreme Court would be decided later. The probe would cover irregularities and scandals in the mining sector, he said.

Asked whether the probe would cover only the charges levelled by Mr. Janardhan Reddy against Mr. Kumaraswamy, Mr. Prakash and Mr. Chennigappa, Mr. Horatti said the commission would go into the charges of corruption and bribes paid to all those who were in power since "mining started in the State".

Appointed

The Cabinet also decided to appoint the former Chief Secretary to Government A. Ravindra as Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Board. The post had been vacant after the Congress leader H. Hanumanthappa quit office. The former Chairman of the Karnataka Public Service Commission and Engineer-in-Chief S.M. Panchagatti has been appointed advisor in the Department of Minor Irrigation.

Assessors' report rejected

The Cabinet decided to reject the report of the assessors appointed by the Cauvery River Water Disputes Tribunal. It also took the stand that the Union Government did not have the powers under the Inter-State Water Disputes Act 1956 to appoint an experts committee to go into such an issue as was ordered by the Tribunal recently.

Mr. Horatti said the State's advocates, who appeared before the Tribunal on July 10, had filed their comments and counter comments on the assessors' recommendations. They had also told the Tribunal that there was no need to make any oral submissions on the merits of the report, he added. The Minister said the Government was awaiting the orders of the Tribunal on the argument. F.S. Nariman, State's counsel, and the team headed by him had been given the green signal to argue the case before the Tribunal.

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