Amid din, Assembly adopts motion for removal of Upalokayukta

KARNATAKA : BENGALURU : 27/11/2015 : Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's gesture while oppostion leaders BJP protesting in well of the house demanding resignation of minister for Social Welfare H Anjaneya on the corruption charges at Legislative Assembly at Vidhana Soudha on November 27, 2015. Photo: V Sreenivasa Murthy

Amid protests by Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members, Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Friday adopted a motion on the removal of Upalokayukta Subhash B. Adi on the charges of “misuse of office, misconduct and overstepping jurisdiction”.

The Assembly has already adopted a motion on the removal of Lokayukta Y. Bhaskar Rao over an alleged extortion racket in the anti-graft ombudsman’s office involving his son.

Anti-government slogans

Tanvir Sait of the Congress moved the motion and the House adopted it amid anti-government slogans by BJP members, who have been demanding the resignation of Social Welfare Minister H. Anjaneya over bribery allegation against his wife.

On Monday, Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa accepted a petition singed by 78 members of the Congress seeking the removal of Mr. Adi. The Congress submitted the petition under section 6 of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act, 1984, which was simplified during the last session of the legislature for the removal of the Lokayukta and the Upalokayukta.

Leader of the Opposition Jagadish Shettar termed the government move on the removal of the Upalokayukta “anti-democratic”. The former Law Minister S. Suresh Kumar had sought documents based on which charges were framed against Mr. Adi. But the government had curtailed the right of the member by denying information on the documents, Mr. Shettar charged. He said if the Upalokayukta too was removed, a situation would arise where there would be a vacuum in the anti-corruption watchdog.