Thaindian News

Bangalore, Nov 5 (IANS) Karnataka Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda and Governor H.R. Bhardwaj were still struggling Saturday to find an agreeable person to become the state’s new Lokayukta (ombudsman).

The post of Lokayukta has remained vacant since former Supreme Court judge Shivaraj Patil quit Sep 19 following a row over acquiring two house sites from two housing societies in Bangalore.

Gowda has recommended the name of former Kerala High Court judge S.R. Bannurmath but he is also caught in a controversy over acquiring a plot meant for civic amenities - generally park or a building for community use.

Bhardwaj has indicated that he was not happy with the choice though he has not rejected it yet.

Gowda told reporters Saturday that he is waiting for Bhardwaj’s response to his recommendation to appoint Bannurmath as the new Lokayukta.

Asked whether his government was considering any other names, Gowda said that can be done “only after knowing the governor’s response (to Bannurmath’s appointment)”.

Bhardwaj had called Gowda late Friday to seek more details on Bannurmath in view of media reports that the former judge had got a civic amenity plot from a controversial judicial department employees cooperative housing society.

The society is now being probed by the government after complaints of large scale irregularities in allotments of plots and also in financial matters.

On Thursday, Bhardwaj told reporters here that the government seemed to have “not applied its mind” while selecting a successor to Shivaraj Patil.

He said he had suggested a few names to the government but declined to reveal them.

The Karnataka Lokayukta has acquired high profile in the last decade, though set up way back in 1986, in view of its vigorous campaign to expose corruption in the state.

The watchdog body hit headlines virtually across the globe in July this year after the then Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde recommended trial of Bharatiya Janata Party’s first chief minister in the state B.S. Yeddyurappa for corruption in the illegal mining scandal.

Yeddyurappa quit July 31 and Gowda took over Aug 4.

Only a retired judge of the supreme court or chief justice of a high court can be appointed as Lokayukta. The term of the Lokayukta is for five years.