BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Tuesday that he would go through the reasons for Governor Vajubhai Vala’s rejection of the state government’s recommendation naming Justice Vishwanath Shetty as the next Lokayukta and take suitable action.
Reacting to the controversy about Justice Shetty owning a site in Judicial Layout, Siddaramaiah said almost every judge has a site there.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Jagadish Shettar felt that the Chief Minister could have avoided the Governor’s rebuff if only he (the CM) had shed his “adamant stand on choosing Justice P Vishwanath Shetty without a thorough scrutiny of the track record of all the three names which were discussed for the post at the high-level committee meeting recently.”
At the meeting, the committee had approved the names of Justice N K Patil and Justice Anandbyra Reddy along with that of Justice Shetty.
Shettar is part of the high-level committee headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court Subhro Kamal Mukherjee, Assembly Speaker K B Koliwad, Legislative Council Chairman D H Shankaramurthy and Leader of the Opposition in Legislative Council K S Eshwarappa are the other members.
Shettar has urged Siddaramaiah to convene a meeting of the high-level committee without any delay in the light of the Governor returning the file.
Shettar bats for Justice N K Patil
Referring to the Governor’s observation that a person of impeccable integrity and clean track record should be recommended to head the anti-corruption agency, Shettar said Justice N K Patil appeared to be a better choice among the three and wanted the Chief Minister to complete the formalities to select a suitable person for the post without delay.