Lokayukta: Row in Ktaka House

Meanwhile,at an Armed Forces Day event,Governor H R Bhardwaj said Gowda was acting upon his advice to find a clean judge for appointment.

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The Karnataka Assembly witnessed heated exchanges between the ruling BJP and the Opposition on Wednesday over the issue of the appointment of a new Lokayukta resulting in the Speaker expunging from records remarks made against the Governor by state BJP president K S Eshwarappa.

Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said the matter was currently in the court of the Governor. We have followed procedures as per the rules for the appointment of the Lokayukta. The ball is in the court of the Governor. The delay is not due to our fault. We have met the Governor twice,there are no mistakes on the part of the government, he said.

Meanwhile,at an Armed Forces Day event,Governor H R Bhardwaj said Gowda was acting upon his advice to find a clean judge for appointment.

Mecca Masjid: Finally,relief for acquitted youths

The Andhra Pradesh government will finally release Rs 70 lakh as compensation for Muslim youths arrested and tortured in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case.

The 70 Muslim youths were acquitted by trial courts which rapped the police for wrongly arresting them. By the time they were released,most had spent six to 18 months in jail. The AP Minorities Commission,which had probed the allegations of illegal arrests and torture,had slammed the police for wrongly implicating the youths and sought compensation in December 2008.

Under sharp criticism from floor leader of MIM Party in the Assembly Akbaruddin Owaisi for delaying release of compensation for three years,Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy announced that compensation would be paid by Friday. It was part of the deal with MIM for not supporting the no-confidence motion moved by TDP against the government.

The Minorities Welfare Department on Tuesday issued the order to pay the compensation on Friday. Just before the Assembly session last week,the National Minorities Commission also asked the state government to release the compensation as soon as possible.

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Twenty youths who suffered torture and were imprisoned for more than a year will receive Rs 3 lakh each while others will receive amounts ranging from Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000.