Karnataka govt to deliberate on implementation of HC order on abolishing ACB

Law minister JC Madhuswamy said that the government has to take many things into consideration like the FIRs registered by the ACB, officials there, raids, charge sheets and other processes under the agency before taking the next step.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Karnataka government on Friday said that it will further deliberate on the high court verdict to abolish the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), remaining non-committal on the implementation of an order to empower the Lokayukta, the anti-graft watchdog.

Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said the issue was discussed informally at the cabinet meeting and that the government will study the entire text of the judgement. (PTI)

Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said the issue was discussed informally at the cabinet meeting and that the government will study the entire text of the judgement, adding that the same was also part of the BJP’s election manifesto in 2018.

“We have already said in our manifesto that we are going to abolish the ACB and continue with the Lokayukta. Since the matter was in the court, we could not have taken the decision. Now since the court has given the judgement, we will abide by our manifesto which is also the court’s decision. But however, to implement it we have to study the entire text of the report. The law minister, AG (Advocate General) will guide us regarding the implementation,” Bommai said in Bengaluru.

He also met former chief minister BS Yediyurappa before the cabinet meeting, indicating that it was to discuss the court order and the government’s stand on the same.

“It was an informal meeting as the chief minister comes to Cauvery (Yediyurappa’s residence) every fortnight. There was nothing more to it,” said one person aware of the developments.

The statements come a day after a two-Judge bench of the Karnataka HC “abolished” the ACB, created in 2016 by the then Siddaramaiah-led Congress government, which it said was created to “trench upon” the powers of the Lokayukta and was meant to “shield the corrupt politicians, Ministers, and the officers” from the anti-graft ombudsman.

Law minister JC Madhuswamy said that the government has to take many things into consideration like the FIRs registered by the ACB, officials there, raids, charge sheets and other processes under the agency before taking the next step.

However, the verdict shows that the BJP government too defended the ACB in court.

“The powers of the Lokayukta under the provisions of the KL Act have not been disturbed. The ACB is working under the provisions of the PC Act as a separate wing or authority and the same has nothing to do with the institution of the Lokayukta, which is working under the provisions of the KL Act and no powers of the Lokayukta have been diluted......” according to the HC order, indicating that the BJP government too had defended the ACB.

The Lokayukta’s report in 2011 on illegal mining and widespread corruption by the then BS Yediyurappa-led BJP government and its ministers, especially Gali Janardhana Reddy, had given the Congress an opportunity to bring down the saffron party’s first ever rule in southern India. But not long after securing a majority in the 2013 elections after the collapse of the BJP government and Yediyurappa’s brief departure from the saffron fold, the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government had created the ACB in 2016, which was seen as an attempt to defang the Lokayukta.

Yediyurappa, whose downfall was due to the Lokayukta report, had maintained that the BJP government will scrap the ACB only to look the other way for three years it has been in power since 2019.

Justice (Retd) Santosh Hedge, the former Lokayukta, on Thursday had said that no government had shown intent to give powers back to the ombudsman as corruption was rampant.

One observation of the court said that the ACB was constituted “virtually to defeat the very purpose of the PC Act itself” and that the state “is bent upon saving its corrupt Ministers and Officers”.

“The former Lokayukta, Justice Santosh Hegde took the institution to great heights including to curb corruption which at that time led to the resignation of a chief minister and three cabinet ministers which was unprecedented at the time. So, he has said clearly that no government and whatever party is interested in strengthening the Lokayukta. So, if you ask me, are they (the government) going to implement it out of their own free will or self motivation, then the answer is a clear no,” SR Hiremath, an anti-corruption activist who was the main petitioner in the case, told HT.

The Congress’s role in creating the ACB and its stoic response of “ we will respect the court order” is likely to blunt its attacks against the BJP on corruption. The Congress had intensified its attacks on the BJP over corruption, hoping that it would serve as a good platform to take on the saffron fold in the 2023 assembly elections.

New entrants to Karnataka’s political landscape like the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have used the court order to make demands that will corner the ‘corrupt’ political parties, hoping to emulate the impact of the India Against Corruption movement in 2011 which propelled Arvind Kejriwal to power in the national capital.

“Rebirth of Lokayuktha Karnataka was celebrated today by @AAPKarnataka. Congratulations to all those who fought for #SaveLokayuktha. A memorandum was submitted demanding reopening of high profile cases against powerful individuals to whom ACB had given a cleanchit !,” said Prithvi Reddy, the AAP Karnataka convenor and spokesperson of the party.

The Congress has maintained a studied silence on the order as the verdict came down heavily on the party-led government between 2013-16.

Siddaramaiah, the leader of the opposition, on Friday posted a series of tweets on the Tricolour and the saffron brigade’s dislike of the Indian flag but steered clear of making any comments on the HC order.