Karnataka HC berates Lokayukta, state govt. for dallying over pending corruption cases

The Karnataka High Court today pulled up the Lokayukta’s Police Wing and the state government for inaction in ensuring speedy disposal of cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act..The court was hearing a batch of criminal petitions filed against various persons under the PC Act. On the last date of hearing on February 8, the court had issued several directions with a view to address the systemic deficiencies which lead to pendency of these cases..The single judge bench of Justice AN Venugopala Gowda had quoted the Supreme Court judgement in VS Achuthanandan v. R Balakrishna Pillai & Ors. [(2011) 3 SCC 317]..“The High Court, having overall control and supervisory jurisdiction under Article 227 of the Constitution of India is expected to monitor and even call for a quarterly report from the court concerned for speedy disposal.”.Pursuant to this objective, the court had directed the counsel for the Lokayukta’s Police Wing to garner information on cases under the PC Act that have been pending for more than three years. In addition to this, the court had also directed the state government to finalise the Karnataka Lokayukta Police Manual and to fill up the vacancies in the establishment..However, none of these directions were acted upon, leading the judge to vent his frustration at the lackadaisical attitude exhibited by the authorities..Additional Advocate General AS Ponnanna informed the court that three Special Courts have been set up in Bangalore to speedily dispose of corruption cases. Some of these cases have pending for more than a decade..Though Justice Gowda was pleased to hear this news, he pointed out that most courts in Karnataka suffer from a dearth of clerical staff. To remedy this situation, he has directed the Karnataka Public Service Commission to conduct the recruitment of these clerical officers to serve in the newly formed Special Courts..The judge also revealed that were 1,244 PC Act cases pending in Karnataka, in places other than the capital of the state, out which 317 cases have been pending for more than four years. Lamenting the state of affairs, the judge asked the parties to consider the plight of the families of the accused, against some of whom cases had been filed as far back as 2004..The parties have been granted three weeks’ time for comply with the other directions.