"Anti-corrupt" Siddaramaiah depends on revenue officials to investigate themselves

BENGALURU: Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah appears to have made a misstep over the allegations of "creating files" against chief secretary Arvind Jadhav, as he has ordered a detailed inquiry by the very revenue department officials who are accused of having carried out the illegality.

The piquant case has caught national attention as it is being seen as a measure of Siddaramaiah and the Congress' commitment to the anti-corruption plank.

The case, involving in the state's topmost bureaucrat, pertains to the creation of grant records favouring 41 persons including Jadhav’s mother Tarabai in 73.86 acres of government land in Ramanayakanahalli in Anekal taluk, bordering Bengaluru city. The allegation is that the Tahsildar of Anekal, the assistant commissioner of Bengaluru South taluk and the deputy commissioner of Bengaluru Urban district acted under pressure from the chief secretary. The CM, by ordering principal secretary, revenue, E V Ramana Reddy to submit a report on the issue, appears to have played into their hands.

“The very DC, AC and Tahsildar who created the records have been asked to submit a report on it. How can this be an investigation?” asked a senior IAS officer, who has been closely watching the case. “The DC passed an order that can be questioned legally, he and the AC created the four files required and the Tahsildar, in his eagerness to please, transferred land not just pertaining to the Jadhav case, but all similar cases, leading to government land shrinking by 66 acres. Now will they give a report saying this was wrong?” he asked.
Sources in the CMO told ET that the inquiry by Reddy, who is known for his patient detailing, had been done all the way down to the village accountant level. “Reddy has now sent his report to the Accountant General for vetting. It has not reached the CM yet. The CM is waiting to see what the report says before taking action,” a senior official said. The report, however, is said to have exonerated all the officials involved, including the chief secretary.

There are allegations that the CM opted to ask revenue to investigate itself and submit such a report in an effort to save an official -- not the CS -- who played a crucial role in carrying out the orders. “The official is very close to the CM and he belongs to the same community. The CM is a sharp man, he would not made the mistake of asking an official to investigate himself, unless there was some other motive,” another IAS officer observed.

Those hoping for justice in the case, however, have not lost hope, as the state’s anti-corruption bureau (ACB) is independently investigating after an RTI activist, S Bhaskaran, submitted a complaint along with media reports on the alleged creation of documents. “The ACB is staffed by IPs officers, who may not be in the know of revenue department nuances. The Tahsildar created RTCs for 41 persons transferring government land to them without following the process of filling out 10 detailed forms or alternately, a direct order from the DC. Still, we are pinning hopes that the ACB will investigate the matter properly and justice will be done, eventually,” the senior IAS officer said.