BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court issued notice to the state and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on a petition filed by MLA Basanagouda R Patil Yatnal and All Karnataka Students Association seeking CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in recruitment by the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC).
The case pertains to the alleged irregularities in the gazetted probationers recruitment pursuant to the notification issued in 2023-24, including the selection of daughters of the suspended Chairman of the commission Shivashankarappa S Sahukar.
Justice M Nagaprasanna directed the government advocate to obtain necessary instructions from the state and place the same on July 29, the next date of hearing, after issuing the notice. The petitioners are at liberty to move the matter in the interregnum in the event of need or any attempt made by the state to constitute and transfer the matter to an SIT (Special Investigation Team), the judge said.
The petitioners’ counsel submitted that after their preliminary complaint dated July 3 and sharing of the information with the KPSC, which itself stated to have lodged the complaint with Vidhana Soudha police.
The registration of the crime is nothing but an exercise in optics, an eyewash intended to create an illusion of institutional responsiveness while leaving the real allegations untouched. The state may seek to constitute an SIT in an attempt to allay public concern, he argued.
The petitioners alleged that the KPSC chairman has not merely presided over the selection process but has himself participated in it in a manner that enabled the selection of two of his own daughters, who are stated to have claimed the benefit of reservation under Category 3B.
They also alleged that eligibility under the said category is found upon the twin criteria of caste and income, and that income certificates produced before the KPSC allegedly disclosed the income of the Chairman to be a meagre sum of Rs 40,000 per annum, thereby facilitating the claim under the reserve category.