Karnataka: CM Siddaramaiah firm on Justice Nayak as Lokayukta

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddarmaiah will have no one other than Justice S.R. Nayak as the Lokayukta despite the Governor Vajubhai Vala rejecting his candidature on the grounds of improper consultation by the CM with the consultative committee and the allegations against Justice Nayak for violating the Co-operative byelaws before purchasing a site in the judicial layout, said an official source.

It is reliably learnt that Mr. Siddaramaiah is going to stand firm on the nomination of Justice Nayak as the chief of the anti-corruption body and will shortly be replying to the concerns raised by the Governor. "There are allegations against Justice Nayak but there is nothing on record against him. The consultations with the other members of the consultative committee were done as per the rules. It is finally the CM's prerogative to nominate the candidate for the Lokayukta and he is likely to go ahead with his decision," said an official source.

The Governor while rejecting CM's recommendation of Justice Nayak had raised his concerns that there was lack of meaningful consultation among the consultative committee members before the name of Justice Nayak was recommended for the post of Lokayukta. He had also reportedly cited the allegations against Justice Nayak of violating the Co-operative Society by-laws before purchasing a site in Judicial Layout and whether he could be appointed as Lokayukta given the fact that he had earlier held the post of chairman of the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission.

The committee headed by Mr. Siddaramaiah comprised Chief Justice S.K. Mukherjee, Chairman of the Legislative Council D.H. Shankaramurthy, Assembly Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa, Leader of the Opposition in Legislative Council K.S. Eshwarappa and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Jagadish Shettar as its members.

While Justice Mukherjee, Mr Shankaramurthy, Mr Shettar and Mr Eshwarappa had suggested the name of retired Supreme Court judge Vikramajit Sen to head the anti-corruption agency, the Chief Minister and Mr Thimmappa had proposed the name of Justice Nayak.