BENGALURU: The decks have been cleared for the new Lokayukta in Karnataka as governor Vajubhai Vala has finally given his assent to Justice P Vishwanath Shetty taking over as the new chief of the watchdog office.
Sources in the Karnataka chief minister's office said the state's advocate-general forwarded the file after giving the government's clarifications on points raised by the governor. The state government sent the recommendation back to the governor again on Wednesday morning and by evening the governor gave his nod to the appointment.
The governor had refused to give his assent earlier after S R Hiremath of Samaja Parivartana Samudaya had written a letter to him raising several questions about Justice Shetty's ownership of illegal properties in and around Bengaluru.
Shetty's name was recommended to the government by a committee headed by chief minister Siddaramaiah and consisting of chief justice of the Karnataka High Court S K Mukherjee, speaker K B Koliwad, Legislative Council chairman D H Shankaramurthy, leaders of the Opposition in the two houses of legislature Jagadish Shettar and K S Eshwarappa as its members.
The committee also discussed the names of Justice N K Patil and Justice Anand Byra Reddy. The post had been vacant since December 2015.