Fresh Lokayukta-Govt collision in K'taka over land scam probe

BANGALORE: Lokayukta Santosh Hegde on Friday objected to the state government's decision to order a judicial probe into land scam allegation faced by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and said he will complete the pending inquiry into a complaint on the same issue.

Hegde, who has written to the government said, "they cannot take away this pending inquiry by me," and rejected government's contention that the judicial probe covered a wider gamut of issues and the Central Act under which the inquiry has been ordered supersedes the state Lokayukta Act.

"There is a clearcut provision that (only) with prior consent (of Lokayukta)... the government can order probe into an issue which was already before the Lokayukta," Hegde, a former Supreme Court judge, said.

Hegde's strong comments came even as former High Court judge B Padmaraj agreed to head the one-man commission of inquiry to probe land scam charges against the Chief Minister.

Yeddyurappa had ordered the probe after facing a barrage of allegations of corruption, nepotism and favouritism from the Opposition over allotment of Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) lands to his daughter and denotifying Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) lands to his son-in-law and sons.

Padmaraj, in a letter, has communicated his acceptance to head the Commission in the public interest, official sources said here on Friday.

He has asked government to provide him with necessary infrastructure for the smooth functioning of the commission.