R B Jagadish
Daijiworld Media Network – Karkala (EP)

Karkala, Jun 28: Karnataka Upa Lokayukta Subhash B Adi visited Shivapura Elagoli Kalmunda stone crusher unit near Hebri here on Saturday, June 27.

As the Upa Lokayukta got out from his car, he saw a large boulder, a pile of stones spread on the road and completely damaged road and asked the officials of mines and geology department what they were doing about the mess.

The Upa Lokayukta arrived after Vadiraja Acharya, a local complained regarding the damage to the land and hardships faced by farmers and locals due to the crusher unit.

The Upa Lokayukta obtained from the officials of mines and geology most of the records from the year 2002 and inspected them. He took the officials to task for not conducting spot inspection and not providing adequate details and information on collection of royalty.

No lease from 2012 - Stern warning by the Upa Lokayukta

During investigation it was found that the crusher unit was operating was operating without lease since December 2014. The Upa Lokayukta warned that legal case would be registered against the quarry owners if any wrongdoing was found. He asked the officials to work in favour of the people.

He also directed the officials of mines and geology to soon submit details and report of investigation. The complainants Alagoli Udaya Shetty and Vadiraja Acharya said that the department officials were prepared to do anything if sufficient bribe was paid to them. The Upa Lokayukta assured that everything would be investigated.

Warning of strict action

The Upa Lokayukta listened to the complaints of the locals and said that everything should be done within the purview of law. "If anything illegal is found, strict action will be taken against the crusher unit owners and the officials," he said.

"Several acres of fertile land is being damaged due to the crusher unit. Houses built with hard earned money have developed cracks. The crusher unit has caused a lot of hardships. Please shut it down," urged Elagoli Udaya Shetty and retired teacher Bhoja Shetty.

Crusher unit owner requests for security

Prasanna Sooda, the owner of the crusher unit claimed that no injustice was being meted out by him. "I have helped them. The records also are correct. There is nothing wrong. The complainants asked for a share, which I refused. Hence I am being troubled. I am getting threats from the underworld. Please provide me security," he pleaded the Upa Lokayukta.

Panchayat president Sugandhi Nayak submitted a written request saying that four crusher units are functioning in Shivapura gram panchayat limits and either they should all be closed or all allowed to function.

Request to close another crusher unit

Meanwhile, former Shivapura panchayat president Hunsedadi Suresh Shetty said that another crusher unit by the name of Mahalaxmi Stone Crushers has been functioning near Elagoli crusher unit without permission for the last two years, and urged the Upa Lokayukta to seal it.

However the crusher unit owner Sudhakar Shetty claimed that all records were in order. "As crusher zone system was in progress at the government level, it took time to obtain panchayat prermission," he said. The Upa Lokayukta ordered PDO to take legal action in case any wrongdoing was found.

Udupi district additional deputy commissioner Kumar, Udupi district Lokayukta S P H D Mendonca, additional Lokayukta registrar Gopalakrishna Rai, Bhaskar Rai, Karkala tahsildar Raghavendra S, taluk panchayat executive officer Chennappa Moily, Karkala DySP Vinay S Nayak and others were present.

"CCB lacks expertise to probe bribery charge against Lokayukta"

Bengaluru, Jun 28 (IANS): A controversy is brewing in Karnataka's Lokayukta between its ombudsman and his deputy over an inquiry the former ordered into a bribery charge against the anti-graft institution.

"The central crime branch (CCB) of the state police cannot hold an inquiry without first filing an FIR (first information report) and it lacks expertise to conduct such a probe," state Upalokayukta (deputy ombudsman) Justice Subhash B. Adi told reporters on Saturday in Udupi.

Adi's comment comes a day after Lokayukta Justice Y. Bhaskar Rao told the CCB to inquire into the bribe charge against an unidentified official in the anti-graft body who is reported to have sought Rs.1 crore from a Public Works Department engineer on Rao's behalf on April 21, as there were many complaints against the engineer.

"He (Rao) could have waited for my return to Bengaluru and discussed with me before asking the CCB to inquire, as I had already directed our Superintendent of Police Sonia Narang to investigate the complaint by the engineer after she submitted a report on May 6," Adi said.

In the company of another upalokayukta Justice S.B. Majage, Rao told the media that he handed over the internal probe to the CCB by invoking the Karnataka Lokayukta Act for a suo motu investigation, as the bribe charge was made against the institution and its head.

"Though Rao told the media that he too directed Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pronab Mohanty on June 6 to inquire into the reported bribe incident, I was not aware as my office was not informed about a separate probe in the institution," Adi said.

According to Narang's report, an unknown official, by the name of 'Krishna Rao' and claiming to be the ombudsman's 'personal secretary', summoned the engineer to the Lokayukta's official residence in the city on April 21 and asked for Rs.1 crore bribe to avoid booking graft cases against him.

"As the bribery charge against the very institution set up to fight graft in pubic life will shake the people's faith in it, the charge should be investigated by a higher probe agency like the CBI, but not CCB, which functions below us," Adi said.

In a related development, former Lokayukta Justice N. Santosh Hegde also urged the state government to order a high-level probe or a CBI inquiry into the bribe charge in the anti-graft institution to ensure the people do not lose faith in it.

"Bribery charges within the institution will make people lose faith in it. It is better to shut it than allowing it to simply raid only officials and not others. Framing charges and conviction rate are not in proportion to the graft cases booked," Hegde told reporters here.