Mines and the man

The Congresss attack on Hegdes tenure as Lokayukta is foolish and self-serving

The Congress partys general secretary,Digvijaya Singh,has been leading a foolish charge against Justice Santosh Hegdes record as Lokayukta in Karnataka. On Thursday,he again said that despite having the institution of Lokayukta,Karnataka had not been able to control corruption,which in the current political environment can only be seen as an attack on Hedge,who has been one of the strongest proponents of a Central-level Lokpal bill,and is one of the nominated members of the bills drafting committee. There is rampant corruption in Karnataka,and he is not able to control it, Singh said. This is an unacceptable slur on the very hard work that

Justice Hedge put in in Karnataka,work that revealed to those outside the troubled state the extent to which the mining mafia had bent and broken regulations.

His report was 1,600 pages long,and was the result of exhaustive and,no doubt,exhausting spadework. Hegde reportedly checked each mine; the report is a goldmine of cross-references and cross-checking. For example,the Lokayukta compared the number of transport permits used to the amount of iron ore actually exported,to figure out exactly how much each permit was being overused. The reports fallout was damning for the Reddy brothers of Bellary in particular; they were the subject of a careful investigation in this newspaper,that laid bare the degree to which they had subverted processes. The Supreme Court was forced to get involved,pushing the state administration towards cleaning up Karnatakas mining industry; the SCs own investigative team submitted a report that followed up on Hegdes findings. The seven-volume SC report endorsed Hegdes findings,and put the blame squarely on the state administration: After filing of the report of the Lokayukta,practically for two-and-a-half years no effective action has been taken by the state of Karnataka to verify the above issues.

Justice Hegdes work in Karnataka is admirable. That the states politics has warped the response to his efforts is not just the ruling

BJPs fault,but also the Congresss; the original mining permits were handed out by a Congress government. The Congress would be wise to remember that,and stay high-minded about its objections to a new Lokpal bill. Trying to attack Hegdes tenure as Lokayukta is illogical and self-serving.