The chat room: Only independent probe can get truth out on CS, says Santosh Hegde
For Mr Arvind Jadhav, the transition from being chairman of the Karnataka Appellate Tribunal (KAT) to being the state’s top bureaucrat, Chief Secretary, has brought with it more trouble than accolades. In the spotlight now for allegedly bending the rules to grab land in Anekal over a decade ago, he has proclaimed his innocence time and again only to have the media dig up more dirt. Former Supreme Court Judge and Lokayukta, Santosh Hegde, who has earned a reputation for taking down the corrupt, spared some time to go into the case with Joyeeta Chakravorty. “I can’t give my opinion about any person but, yes, I can definitely speak about the right course that needs to be taken in such cases," he said, adding, “Such high profile cases involving the state's top bureaucrat need to be handled with caution because a Chief Secretary's position comes with huge responsibility.”
Although Chief Secretary Jadhav, was given a clean chit by the state revenue department following an inquiry conducted this week on the directions of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Justice Hegde does not seem convinced.
“Assistant Commissioner for the Bengaluru South region, D.T. Natesh said the plot in Anekal taluk was legally acquired in the name of the Chief Secretary’s mother, Tarabai Marutirao Jadhav. Sadly, this was not supported by any evidence. And who is he to give Jadhav a clean chit,” he asked pointedly.
"The best course would be to find an independent office to hold an inquiry and report to the government. A person in such a high position will obviously have people under him willing to protect him," he reasoned. "So obviously we need to appoint a person, who is either equal in status and power or a person that is above his reach. An assistant commissioner should not have been even asked to look into the case."
Going into more detail, he noted, "There are so many loopholes in this case. The source of such huge money needs to be found out. Where did it come from and was the mother even competent to buy agricultural land? All such doubts should be cleared. A departmental inquiry is needed soon as the government needs to know whether he used his undue influence to buy the land,” stressed the former judge, who as a Lokayukta of the state exposed major irregularities in the mines of Ballari, that eventually proved costly for former minister , Janardhan Reddy, owner of the Obulapuram Mining Company.
Praising the media for bringing the Chief Secretary controversy before the public, he said, “The media has truly played the role of a watch dog in this case and as long as it is not motivated and is independent, it should be able to expose more scams.”
