Governor HR Bhardwaj sends a list of eligible candidates to government.
Selecting an able and ideal candidate to head the Lok Ayukta is turning out to be a Herculean task as the government’s choice of Justice SR Bannurmath has failed to convince governor HR Bhardwaj.
The governor on Friday aired his views on the need to choose persons with an impeccable record to head the anti-corruption agency. He said it is a very significant post and a person who is as able and transparent as Justice N Santosh Hegde should be selected. The governor has also sent a list of suitable candidates to the government so that it can choose an eminent person.
The governor’s statement comes in the wake of reports that he expressed his reluctance to approve the state government’s choice of Justice Bannurmath for the post after reports of land encroachment surfaced against the judge.
After Justice Hegde demitted office in August 2011, his successor, Justice Shivaraj V Patil, resigned within a month following allegations of securing a site from an housing co-operative society by violating by-laws. Now, Justice Bannurmath, too, faces a similar charge of grabbing up to 6,600 sq feet meant of public property by ignoring by-laws. The Housing Co-operatives Act, 1959, disqualifies judges from securing plots meant for public purposes.
On Friday, Bharadwaj said it is the government’s duty to select a person who is ideal and is transparent in their antecedents. I have sent a list of retired chief justices of high courts and Supreme Court judges. It is the duty of the government to choose a suitable person.
He attributed the delay in selecting the new Lok Ayukta to the Lok Ayukta Act’s guidelines, which says that the process of consultation and discussion should be followed in choosing the Lokayukta.
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