More than 100 Government officers in Karnataka to be prosecuted

More than 100 Government officers, who had been booked by the Lokayukta in connection with corruption cases in Karnataka since 1993, will be prosecuted soon.

Revealing this to reporters after meeting Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, the Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde said these cases had been pending with the Lokayutka for the last several years awaiting Government sanction to prosecute the accused Government officers. The names of several IAS, IPS and other senior bureaucrats figures in the list of Government officials against whom the Lokayukta had booked cases.

“A recent Supreme Court verdict has made it clear that Government sanction was not necessary to prosecute the corrupt Government officers. So, we are going ahead with the framing of charges”, he said.

The Lokayukta, which is an anti-corruption cell of the State, has so far booked more than 100 Government officers in various corruption cases. Hegde said he had given the Lokayukta police a month’s time to complete the investigation and file the charge sheets. “Charge sheets will be filed in one month’s time under the Prevention of Corruption Act in respect of all the pending cases against more than 100 officers”, Hegde said.

In fresh cases, Hegde said the Lokayukta will seek permission from the Government to prosecute the accused officers. “If the Government does not accord sanction or fails to respond in a specified time frame, then we will consider it as deemed sanction and proceed”, he said.
Hegde also met Governor T N Chaturvedi and apprised him of various issues and measures taken by the Lokayukta to fight corruption