BENGALURU: Justice S R Nayak, who is chairman of the State Law Commission, is the most likely choice of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for the post of Lokayukta.
The CM had sought the opinions of the members of the consultative committee, including acting Karnataka Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee, on Monday.
According to official sources, Justice Nayak has an edge over Justice Vikramjit Sen, a retired Supreme Court judge, who is closely behind in the race for the post. While Justice Sen’s candidature has the backing of Mukherjee, opposition leaders Jagadish Shettar and K S Eshwarappa, and Council Chairman D H Shankaramurthy, Justice Nayak has the support of Assembly Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa.
With Siddaramaiah choice being final, it is being said that that the appointment of Justice S R Nayak, who was born and brought up in the state, is a foregone conclusion and his name will be communicated to Governor Vajubhai Vala in a day or two for issuing notification.
Speaking to Express, Speaker Thimmappa strongly defended his choice of Nayak saying that “it would be better to have a Kannadiga to head the anti-corruption watchdog”.
“It would be easy for the common man to approach the Lokayukta and interact with the head of the institution in the local language,” Thimmappa felt.
Recalling that Kannadigas, who had headed the institution (Justices N Venkatachala, Santhosh Hegde and Shivaraj Patil) had made their mark while in the office, he said, “We can expect the same from Justice Nayak too.”
The post of Lokayukta has remained vacant following the exit of Justice Y Bhaskar Rao, who resigned after both Houses of the legislature adopted a motion for his removal from the post.
List to be Sent to Governor
Chief minister Siddaramaiah, in a chat with newsmen at a function in Bengaluru on Tuesday, said that the list of names, which also includes that of a Kannadiga, will be sent to the Governor in a couple of days. To a question on the BJP members, who on the panel, backing the nomination of Justice Sen, he shot back saying, “It is not binding on us. A final decision will be taken after weighing pros and cons.”