Though he said he is borne by the Karnataka High Court verdict to quash the Lokayukta report on illegal mining pertaining to alleged corruption by former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, former Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde said he would stand by his report.
Speaking to The Hindu , Mr Hegde, whose report had led to the resignation of Mr Yeddyurappa as Chief Minister on July 31 last year, said he is entitled to his right to term the judgement as “right or wrong” without attributing any motives to the court.
Reacting to the High Court bench’s observation that the principles of natural justice had been violated as Mr Yeddyurappa had not been heard before the report was submitted, Mr Hegde said there was no need to issue a notice under Section 7 (2) (A) and (B) of the Lokayukta Act according to a High Court order.
Besides, the Lokayukta report had advised the Government to proceed to investigate. When the investigation gets underway with registration of FIR and beginning of court proceedings, notices will have to be issued.
Mr Hegde said notices had not been issued to the persons named in the earlier report too.
“As the Government had referred the investigation under Section 7 (2) (A) and (B), there was no need for a notice. Issue of a notice would have become necessary if the investigation was taken under Section 9 of the Lokayukta Act”, Mr Hegde said.
He regretted that the term “principles of natural justice” has been needlessly exaggerated.
When asked to respond to the High Court’s observation that suspicion cannot be a ground to tarnish the reputation of a person holding a constitutional post, Mr Hegde said he could not have turned away from the payment of a huge sum of money by a mining company to a trust run by then Chief Minister’s family members, particularly when their application for mining lease pending before the Government.
Mr Hegde also said that he does not expect the State Government to go in appeal against the High Court verdict. “Probably, people fighting against corruption in public life should go in appeal”, he said.
