Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Dec 22: In a discomforting development for the state government, it had to eat humble pie and admit that it had taken a wrong stand on the issue of passing of motion to remove Upa Lokayukta, Justice Adi. Law and parliamentary affairs minister, T B Jayachandra, admitted on Monday December 21 that the motion moved in the assembly had not been admitted.

He asserted that advocate general of the state, Madhusudan Naik, was right in informing the state high court that the government has no objection on the continuance of functioning by Justice Adi as Upa Lokayukta of the state. Jayachandra said he went through all the documents and discussed the issue with assembly speaker, Kagodu Thimmappa, in detail, before making certain that the motion had not yet been admitted. He said that the advocate general's statement in the high court is in consonance with the recorded proceedings of the assembly.

He said that there was confusion as the motions proposing removal of Lokayukta and Upa Lokayukta were moved on the same day. On that day, the motion to remove Lokayukta was admitted and the other one was not, he clarified. Jayachandra said that after the advocate general returned from Chennai, where he had been to place arguments before National Green Tribunal relating to Yettinahole project, he held talks with him, besides going through the assembly proceedings for the day.

The minister said that the assembly speaker, in his letter to the Lokayukta registrar dated December 3, had also not mentioned about the admittance of the motion. The letter merely informed that if the motion is moved under section 6 (14) of Lokayukta Ammendment Act and gets admitted, the concerned would not be able to function in their respective capacities, he said.