Amid controversy over his appointment,retired High Court judge Chandrashekaraiah was today sworn-in as second Upa Lokayukta in Karnataka. Governor HR Bhardwaj administered the oath of office to the 70-year-old Chandrashekaraiah,who had also served as the President of Karnataka State Consumer Redressal Commission,at Raj Bhavan. He comes in the place of Justice (Retd) R Gururajan,who resigned in October citing health reasons. Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister S Suresh Kumar,Home and Transport Minister R Ashoka,JDS leader H D Revanna were prominent among those who attended the ceremony,where Chief Minister D V Sadananda was conspicuous by his absence. Chandrashekaraiah was reportedly allotted a 4,000 square feet prime site in Judicial Layout in 1997,when he was already owning a house in Banashankari-II stage,allegedly in violation of housing society bye laws. He yesterday sought to downplay the issue,pointing to a Supreme Court ruling which upheld dismissal of a case challenging the owning of sites by the judges,and questioned "raking up" the controversy. Chandrashekaraiah said he was not the only judge who was allotted a site. Chandrashekaraiah served as Judge of the Karnataka High Court between 1995 and 2004 and as the Commission President between 2004 and 2009. Justice S B Majage is the other Upa Lokayukta.
