BENGALURU: The Assembly on Friday took another step that could push the Lokayukta institution into a vacuum. It adopted a motion seeking the removal of Upa Lokayukta Justice Subhash Adi, days after similar motions were admitted — both in the Assembly and Council — against Lokayukta Justice Y Bhaskar Rao. With no Lokayukta or Upa Lokayukta in office, the anti-corruption watchdog will be rendered nonoperational.
Congress MLA Tanvir Sait moved the motion in the Assembly on Friday, and Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa accepted it. It is now up to Thimmappa to decide whether the motions against Rao and Adi should be referred to the Chief Justice of Karnataka for investigation. Rao faces charges of allowing his son Y Ashwin to run an extortion racket from his office and official residence, while Adi is being charged with overstepping his jurisdiction to protect a government doctor who allegedly diverted medicines to a clinic run by her husband. “I have already examined the material against Justice Rao. I will now look into the material against Upa Lokayukta Adi,” Thimmappa said.
Once the matter is referred to the Chief Justice, both the Lokayukta and Upa Lokayukta will stop discharging their duties, as stipulated in the Karnataka Lokayukta (Amendment) Act of 2015.
They can return to their posts only if a judge’s committee gives them a clean chit. The legislature can either ignore the report or accept it, with two-thirds of all members present and voting on the day.
The government, already facing flak for trying to render the anti-corruption watchdog headless, could speed up the process of appointing an Upa Lokayukta.