The man who probed 2G spectrum scam, retired Supreme Court judge Shivaraj Patil will succeed Lok Ayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde. A communique from Raj Bhavan on Tuesday announced his appointment.
The state will get one more Upa Lokayukta. Retired high court judge R Gururajan has been appointed the second Upa Lok Ayukta to assist Justice Patil along with the existing Upa Lok Ayukta Justice SB Majage.
Lok Ayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde will demit office on August 2. Though the state government was reportedly thinking of taking its own time to appoint Hegde’s successor, the swift political developments in the backdrop of Lok Ayukta’s mining report leak and the phone tapping controversy forced it to waste no time.
Governor HR Bhardwaj accepted the state government’s recommendations and issued official orders on Tuesday with regard to the appointments. Justice Patil is not in town and is likely to assume charge as Lokayukta after August 3.
Apart from justice Patil, retired high court judge SR Bannurmath, SC sitting judge RV Ravindran and retired judge NK Sodhi were also considered for the top post of the anti-corruption agency. After several rounds of discussions, justice Patil was chosen for the post.
Justice Patil belongs to Lingayat community like Upa Lok Ayukta justice SB Majage. Upa Lok Ayukta Justice R Gururajan is a Brahmin.
For the Upa Lok Ayukta post, the choice was made after prolonged discussions as Justice R Gururajan, Justice AM Farooq and Justice Chandrashekaraiah were in the race. Finally, Gururajan was selected.
Expressing happiness, Justice Gururajan said, “I know the post has the highest responsibility. I will work according to the rule of law and try to help the poor.”
