Corruption may continue to be a talking point in the state, but the office of the Lokayukta, that dug up so many of the scams has been directionless for the last 10 months ever since Justice Shivaraj Patil stepped down. Thanks to a PIL filed before the high court, coming down hard on the “deliberately delaying” tactics of the state in appointing a Lokayukta, the government may now be forced to wake up from its slumber and do the needful, particularly as it has been given only a week’s time to come up with a clear stand on the matter.

Shamefully for the government, the high court bench headed by Chief Justice Vikramjit Sen called it ‘recalcitrant’ and warned that it would write to the Governor to interfere in the matter as there was a “failure of the Constitutional framework in the state’’.

“Can you say you need not appoint a Lokayukta at all? Then that would be most malafide. If you continue to be recalcitrant, then we can recommend to the Governor saying that there is breakdown of Constitutional framework in the state. If you want it, you get it. Please convey this to the government,’’ the bench thundered, its remarks all the more stinging as the BJP government came to power, promising in its 2008 manifesto to strengthen the Lokayukta’s institution.

Far from being empowered, the institution is in disarray today, having to function for months without a head as the government came up with its choices for the post only to be shot down by the Governor. The judges named suffered embarassment too as they came under close scrutiny to prove they were “clean enough” for the job. Meanwhile the institution didn’t do any better. While several officials, including a couple of IAS officers, were raided in the last 10 months, the absence of the Lokayukta himself has hampered functioning of the institution, notes retired bureaucrat, V. Balasubramanian, regretting that when once there was debate on ways to strengthen the Lokayukta, today we don’t even have a Lokayukta to turn to with complaints of corruption.

Worse, the Lokayukta police which has filed B reports in many cases has had to face the Lokayukta special court’s disapproval and seen its stands overturned often over the last few months. In the case against Chikmagalur MLA C.T. Ravi, (now a minister), the court observed that its investigation lacked ‘application of mind’ and rejected the B report filed, clearly demonstrating that all was not well in its ranks.

Pending appeal before SC to help state govt?
Faced with an ultimatum by the court, can the BJP government use the appeal pending before the Supreme Court on the procedure to be followed in appointing a Upalokayukta, to delay appointing a Lokayukta again?

Former Lokayukta Justice N. Santhosh Hegde, who came up with explosive reports on illegal mining in the state before his retirement, shaking up the Yeddyurappa government, doesn’t think it can. “The High Court bench made it clear on Monday that the pending of appeal before the Supreme Court can’t be an excuse. Hence, this time state government will have to be committed on the appointment of Lokayukta,’’ he feels.

The HC had in April termed the appointment of Justice Chandrashekaraiah as Upalokayukta by the last Sadananda Gowda government illegal and unconstitutional and made it clear it could not ignore the views of the Chief Justice in the matter. In fact, the court went to say that the government must not only consult the Chief Justice but take his opinion very seriously for such appointments. Not to be outdone, the Sadananda Gowda government appealed the order in the Supreme Court, where it is still pending. The former Chief Minister then went on to assert that his government would wait to appoint a Lokayukta until the appeal was disposed off by the apex court.

But now the Jagadish Shettar government seems to have been robbed of this option considering the stand taken by the high court in the matter. Should it go ahead with appointing the Lokayukta, the government may find itself in a dilemma as it has not yet received any relief from the SC, not even in the form of an interim stay on the high court order making consultation with the Chief Justice mandatory in such matters.