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Bangalore: HDK Govt had Special Love for a Man Worth Rs 10 Cr

  •   Mon, Nov 26 2007 12:52:14 PM

Bangalore: HDK Govt had Special Love for a Man Worth Rs 10 Cr

Hemanth Kumar/Newindpress

Bangalore, Nov 26: It has come to light that B Srinivasa Reddy, Managing Director of Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board (KUWSDB), whose residence was raided by Lokayukta officials on Saturday unearthing unaccounted assets worth Rs10 crore, was reappointed by the then Chief Minister, HD Kumaraswamy, in undue haste after the BJP withdrew support to his government.

In reappointing Reddy, Kumaraswamy ignored the warnings of Chief Secretary PB Mahishi against his reappointment, citing corruption charges against him and a Lokayukta inquiry pending against him. According to documents obtained by a group of KUWSDB employees under the Right to Infornmation Act, the Kumaraswamy government was not only aware of a slew of corruption charges against Reddy during his earlier stint as Managing Director from 2004 to 2006, it even ignored the recommendation of Chief Secretary PB Mahishi not to reappoint him citing the corruption charges against him.

Even as the Kumaraswamy government showed its interest to induct Reddy in the last week of September 2007, the then Chairman and Managing Director of KUWSDB, PB Ramamurthy, had already sent a detailed letter explaining as to why Reddy’s application for the post should be rejected.

Ramamurthy had also cited the report of Public Accounts Committee of State Legislature which listed the irregularities committed by Reddy during his previous tenure as MD of KUWSDB. The alleged irregularities included "acceptance of fake bank guarantee from disreputed agencies, entrustment of works without calling for tenders, violating Transparency Act and change in material of pipes after awarding work."

The letter also had drawn the attention of Chief Minister’s office to the fact that Lokayukta was investigating the corruption charges against him. Earlier the employees of KUWSDB had even staged a dharna to pressurise the government not to reappoint Reddy.

As the fall of Kumaraswamy government appeared imminent, the process to reappoint Reddy gathered momentum as Mahishi’s views were sought to clear the proposal.

However, the Chief Secretary in his letter dated Oct 1, 2007, clearly stated that Reddy had faced 12 charges of corruption during his previous stint and out of them five charges appeared to be true. He further stated that "considering the charges of corruption against Reddy and the fact that Lokayukta is investigating a case against him, it will not be appropriate to reappoint him."

The very next day, the Kumaraswamy government was reduced to a minority as the BJP ministers quit the cabinet and urged the Governor to dismiss the Kumaraswamy government. But surprisingly, the Kumaraswamy government issued the orders for reappointment of Reddy on contract basis on October 4.

The decision shocked the employees of the KUWSDB. Taking serious exception to several decisions taken by Kumaraswamy government, including the one about Reddy’s reappointment, president of Right to Information Awareness Forum JSD Pani submitted a memorandum to Governor Rameshwar Thakur urging cancellation of the appointment orders.

According to secretariat sources, the Governor later summoned the file concerned apparently to review the decision. The Lokayukta raid on Saturday has provided a big relief for the employees who fought against Reddy.

Politics in Karnataka - Na Ghar Ka, Na Ghat Ka !
  

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