Former Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde, whose report on illegal mining first brought to light the massive scale of plundering of natural resources, shady deals and complicity and involvement of top political leaders of the state, on Friday said he does not have any hand in the CBI filing an FIR against former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa.
In his first reaction after the CBI filed the FIR and searched BJP strongman’s houses, Justice Hegde said charges that he targeted Mr Yeddyurappa were baseless as the Karnataka High Court quashed his report, particularly Chapter 22. Justice Hegde had indicted the former chief minister in his second mining report for receiving kickbacks from South West Mining Ltd, the charge that is being investigated by the CBI now.
The former Lokayukta said no action has been taken on both parts of his mining report. “Let all those politicians, who have been accusing me of being instrumental in the CBI probe against the former chief minister, know that the FIR registered under Chapter 22 of mining report has been quashed. The CBI probe has been ordered based on the CEC report. These supporters of the former chief minister should blame the CEC,’’ he said.
Justice Hegde said that after the state government sought clarifications from the Lokayukta office, the report didn’t make any progress. The state cabinet, headed by Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, had sought three technical clarifications on the Lokayukta report.
“The state government declared that it will take action against the officials indicted in the report and forwarded it to the Lokayukta office seeking some clarifications. Since then, the Lokayukta institution is waiting for a new head. I heard someone approached the court on action taken on the report, but later withdrew the petition,” he said.
The Lokayukta report part-2 was submitted to the state government in July 2011. Questioning the powers of Lokayukta, the state cabinet asked whether the corruption watchdog could “investigate” the alleged illegal mining cases under Section 7 (2) A (state government-referred enquiry) of the Lokayukta Act as there was no complaint, whether the Lokayukta could recommend the removal of ministers appointed by the chief minister and why the Lokayukta did not follow principles of natural justice.
“Those who abuse me forget that it was their government which didn’t take action against other politicians indicted in the report. The first report indicted a former Chief Minister (N. Dharam Singh), while the second also recommended further investigation against another former Chief Minister,’’ Justice Hegde said.