BENGALURU: An official with the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services had to pay the price of accepting a Rs 450 bribe to certify blindness in a buffalo a good 23 years later. He has now been compulsorily retired by the state government.
Acting on the recommendations of Upa Lokayukta, the Commissioner and Disciplinary Authority, Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services, Belagavi District, has ordered compulsory retirement of livestock development officer Jagadeesha Shankaragowda Patil with immediate effect. But the government’s action to punish the official, to send a strong message to corrupt officials, has taken about 23 years.
Patil was given compulsory retirement under the provisions of Karnataka Civil Service (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules 1966. He was working as Senior Veterinary Inspector at the Primary Veterinary Hospital, Belagundi in Belagavi district in 1996 when he was trapped by the Lokayukta police while accepting a bribe of Rs 450 to certify blindness in a buffalo owned by one Subbarao Shankara Naik of Bijagarini in Belagavi taluk.
Patil had initially demanded Rs 1,000 from Naik but finally settled for Rs 450. Unable to pay it, Naik approached Belagavi Lokayukta police who caught him red-handed and registered a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act.