Bangalore: The Karnataka government on Tuesday
said that land scams prior to the institution of its judicial
probe will be investigated by the Lokayukta while cases
registered thereafter will be probed by a judicial commission.
"The scams prior to institution of the judicial probe
would be investigated by anti-corruption watchdog Lokayukta,
while cases registered after that would be probed by the
commission," Karnataka Home Minister R Ashok said here,
adding, the judicial commission will be headed by a retired
high court judge.
Defending the state government`s decision to institute
the judicial probe into land scams, he said, "According to our
Constitution, any government has the power to institute a
judicial probe."
"There was a misconception in the minds of the people
that BJP government was the only government to order a
judicial inquiry into such scams. Several other governments
had also instituted such probes into scams," he said on the
sidelines of a function for armed forces personnel.
In a bid to avert a showdown with Lokayukta Justice
Santosh Hegde, who has objected to the judicial probe, the
state government had yesterday said he would continue to hear
the cases already under Lokayukta probe.
Earlier, he announced that the state government would
issue free passes for city buses carrying a validity period of
10 years to families of armed forces personnel who had lost
their breadwinner or who were wounded in combat. It would also
subsequently consider such passes for the long distance buses.
In reply to a question on allotment of sites to armed
forces personnel who were constantly on the move and were not
domicile of the state, he said those who had mentioned
Karnataka as their address during recruitment would be
considered for the same.
PTI
