BENGALURU: The state government submitted the report on the status of the investigation being done by the Vidhana Soudha police and the CID into the alleged irregularities in the appointment of the daughter of the suspended chairman of the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) for the post of Industrial Extension Officer and also in the recruitment of gazetted probationers pursuant to the notification issued in March 2024.
However, the government sought 10 more days’ time to file its response on the query made by the High Court on the last occasion why these cases should not be entrusted to CBI. Meanwhile, the counsel for the petitioners expressed apprehension that in the garb of taking time to file a response, a final report would be filed before the court concerned.
Granting time and also taking on record the status report of the investigation, the court directed the investigating agencies to continue the investigation but not to file the final report notwithstanding the fact of completion of investigations before the jurisdictional court without permission of the High Court.
Justice M Nagaprasanna passed the order on Friday after adjourning to August 20 the hearing of the petition filed by MLA Basanagouda R Patil (Yatnal) and All Karnataka State Students Association, who have approached the High Court seeking directions to the state government to entrust the probe of alleged irregularities in recruitment of veterinary officers to the CBI.
On the other hand, the state public prosecutor submitted that no coercive steps would be taken against the successful candidates in the recruitment of veterinary officers if they cooperate with the ongoing probe. However, the court noted that permission should be sought from the High Court before taking any such action in the event any coercive steps would become necessary in future.