H.D. Kumaraswamy

BANGALORE: The most pertinent question in the wake of the appointment of the U.L. Bhat Commission of Inquiry to look into mining-related activity in the State is whether Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy will be dragged into a deeper controversy or whether it would help him come clean of the bribery charge.

The onus is now on BJP legislator Janardhan Reddy who has made bribery allegations against the Chief Minister, Home Minister M.P. Prakash and Forest Minister C. Chennigappa, to take the case to the logical end.

The terms of reference for the commission of inquiry, the second to be appointed by the Government in less than a fortnight, have been notified.

The names of the Chief Minister or the others do not figure in those.

The Government has called upon the commission to identify all the fraudulent activities related to mining from January 1, 2000, until the date of the notification constituting the commission.

It is, however, to be noted that all the Chief Ministers who faced similar accusations by and large came clean, thanks to the commissions of inquiry

they constituted. The terms of references of such commissions merely referred to the charges and did not include any names.

It should, therefore, be not any different for Mr. Kumaraswamy.

The Bhat commission has been asked to file an interim report in two months and the final report in six months.

Government sources told The Hindu that any person, who carried some evidence, could file an affidavit before the commission and if need be, the Government would provide protection to such persons.

Mr. Kumaraswamy will be the fourth Chief Minister after the late Kengal Hanumanthaiya, the late D. Devaraj Urs and the late Ramakrishna Hegde to order a judicial inquiry after being accused of corruption.

Legal experts told The Hindu that while the Government has stated that it would take immediate action on the recommendations of the commission, it all depended on the affidavits and the evidence that could enable the commission to go ahead with a full-fledged inquiry.

The Congress party is yet to come out with a reaction on the appointment of the commission since it has specifically sought an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the matter. Mr. Janardhan Reddy too has made a similar demand and said that he would place the evidence in his possession only before the CBI.

Janata Dal (Secular), in consultation with the BJP, has opted for the judicial inquiry and has acted with speed in obtaining the concurrence of the former Chief Justice of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh, U.L. Bhat, to head the commission.

Mr. Bhat is yet to receive the Government order in this regard.

He told The Hindu that his reaction to the appointment, if any, would be only after he received the order.

The Chief Minister referred to the constitution of the commission on Saturday night and since Sunday is a Government holiday, the order and a copy of the terms of reference are expected to be delivered to him on Monday.

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