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Journalism of Courage
The BJP government in Karnataka under D V Sadananda Gowda is exploring the possibility of rejecting at its very first Cabinet meeting the Lokayukta report on illegal mining,that has recommended action against 787 government officials apart from pursuing criminal cases against ministers in the earlier government like the Reddy brothers of Bellary.
Sources in the legal advisory team of former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa,who was forced to quit following his indictment in the report,said the government was exploring two possible courses of action,including the reports rejection. Asked for his position,Gowda said: We are studying it (the report) and we need some time to decide.
Senior BJP leader and a close associate of Yeddyurappa,Dr V S Acharya,said the government will use the full quota of three months available to it under the Karnataka Lokayukta Act 1984. It is a voluminous report. We have three months to study it, Acharya said. If no decision is taken on the report in three months,the report is deemed as accepted under the Act.
The government will also appoint a new advocate general before deciding anything.
The two lines of thinking that have been discussed so far are to set up a committee to look at all issues raised by the report and to give some sort of an action taken report as was done with the first report,sources said. The other is reportedly to reject the report outright as is possible under the Lokayukta Act during the first meeting of the new Cabinet. Sources said the government is strongly in favour of risking a crisis on the report through an outright rejection of it.
