BENGALURU: The state government is not cooperating in combating corruption and is failing to provide necessary details of movable and immovable assets of its servants, to scrutinise their disproportionate assets (DA) by the Karnataka Lokayukta, resulting in shielding corrupt public servants. The assets are inherited, acquired or held by them either in their name or the names of the family.
The non-cooperative attitude of babus who are heads of various departments of the state government has created a hurdle for the police wing of the anti-corruption body at the initial stage itself, of its fight against corruption as they were not able to examine and generate even source reports against the suspected officials. This, after receiving complaints against them and to proceed against them to scrutinise the DA possessed by them.
Experiencing the difficulty of gathering information due to non-cooperation, the helpless police wing approached Lokayukta Justice BS Patil to find a solution. Enraged by the attitude of babus, Justice Patil wrote to Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh to draw her attention.
Sources said Lokayukta police officials who are empowered with the provisions of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act and Prevention of Corruption Act approached the heads of the departments, requesting them to furnish details. However, some of the departments or heads of the department or appointing authority are not obliging.
This attitude of some of the officials is not only opposed to the relevant rules but aims at protecting the officials from the vigil and transparency that is enforced by the Lokayukta, the Lokayukta stated in his letter to the Chief Secretary.
As a solution, Lokayukta Justice Patil had suggested that the state government web-host the details of movable and immovable assets acquired by its servants, and provide access to the premier investigation agency like Lokayukta, with certain safeguards.
The details of all the officials is not required but only of officials against whom the complaints are received. The details may be confidential which will not be applicable to the investigating agency and hence let it be transparent, sources in Lokayukta said.
This suggestion has also gained significance in view of the fact that some of the department heads are alerting the suspected officials as and when the Lokayukta police sought the details of assets to examine before generating the source reports.
If the details are web-hosted and provided access to the investigating agency, this leaking of information to the suspected officials can also be prevented which serves the purpose of secrecy and confidentiality of the investigation in unearthing the truth. This was also the purpose behind the suggestion, sources said.
When contacted, Lokayukta Justice BS Patil said the attitude of the officials is actionable and hence he had written a letter to the chief secretary on December 18 with a request to provide an action taken report within two weeks.
When asked whether he had received any reply, he said “not yet”. “We are awaiting a reply with hopes of the chief secretary looking into it positively. Since these are all not matters of confrontation, we will hold talks with the chief secretary and convince the necessity of web-hosting details, if a reply is not received soon,” he added.