Crumbling in the face of charges of land irregularities against him, the Karnataka Lokayukta, Justice Shivaraj Patil, on Monday resigned 45 days
after he assumed the office of the State ombudsman. He is the first Lokayukta in the state to demit office in such a short span of time and also
the first to face charges of land “irregularities”.
Justice Patil, who succeeded Justice Santosh Hegde on August 2, tendered his resignation to governor H.R. Bhardwaj, a close friend of the judge at
around 5.30 pm at Raj Bhavan.
At 7 pm announcing his resignation at a packed press conference a visibly upset Lokayukta said that he “deemed it appropriate to submit his
resignation” following a “malicious campaign,” which had “deeply hurt and pained him”.
“I am giving up this office yielding to the malicious campaign of a few and letting down the hopes of many, who had reposed faith in me,” said an
extremely anguished Justice Patil.
Countering the allegations on allotment of housing sites to him and his wife, Justice Patil said that in 1982, when he was a lawyer at the
Karnataka high court he purchased a “small site” at Vasanthnagar from a private individual where he later built a house.