There seems to be a deliberate ploy to weaken the institution of the Lokayukta, as not only the post of Lokayukta, but even several posts of Superintendents of Police are being kept vacant in many districts.
As many as nine districts have no Lokayukta SPs for the past several months, some even more than a year. This has severely crippled the supervision and investigation of corruption cases, including cases of disproportionate assets, in most districts as districts which have SPs are overburdened with additional charge of three to five districts. The districts which are dispensing without SPs are Bellary, Bijapur, Chikmagalur, Dharwad, Gulbarga, Haveri, Raichur, Uttara Kannada, and Yadgir.
The situation is such that in some districts, the Deputy Superintendents of Police are not only officiating as SPs in their district of posting, but also in charge of three to four other districts as well. For example, the Bellary DySP is not only holding the additional charge of Bellary SP, but is also in charge of the posts of SPs in Raichur and Koppal districts. “These days, Bellary is the news at the national level due to high levels of corruption. How can an officer of the rank of DySP effectively investigate the cases? On top of it, he is burdened with the investigation of cases in Raichur and Koppal districts. The situation is hopeless”, a senior Lokayukta officer commented. The post of Gulbarga SP has been vacant for almost a year. After the transfer of Gulbarga SP B. Mahantesh in August 2011, the district was placed under the charge of Dharwad SP B.N. Neelagar.
With the retirement of Mr Neelagar on January 31 this year, Gulbarga district came under the charge of Chitradurga SP A.M. Nadaf, who also has Raichur to take care of. After the retirement of Mr Nadaf on May 31, the Gulbarga DySP Ravikant Patil has been officiating as SP of Gulbarga. He has also been made in-charge of the post of SPs in Bidar and Yadgir districts. Yadgir does not have a Lokayukta SP ever since it was carved out as a district.
A police inspector manages the show as the posts of DySP as well as that of another inspector are vacant. The worst is the case of Davanagere SP Kambar. Besides Davanagere, Mr Kambar has been given additional charge of Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri and Yadgir districts!