Justice Santosh Hegde on Wednesday said it is "extremely difficult" to believe that allegations raised by Team Anna against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could exist but demanded an inquiry if there are documents to suggest that some wrongdoing was done.
Karnataka Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde said the need to obtain sanction from a competent authority to prosecute public servants in cases of corruption is weakening the fight against corruption in the country.
Speaking to PTI in Bengaluru, the former Supreme Court judge said every political party has "good and honest people" and targeting an outfit as a whole is not correct. He said he is opposed to such an idea (campaigning against a party).
Hours before Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde demitted office, outgoing Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Tuesday filed a petition before him seeking reconsideration of his report indicting him in the illegal mining that cost him the top post.
Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde on Tuesday described as a "political game" Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa's appeal to the prime minister to constitute a committee to inquire into the alleged phone-tapping scandal.
Karnataka high court on Tuesday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation, charging Governor H R Bhardwaj, Home Minister R Asoka, Bharatiya Janata Party member of parliament Ananth Kumar and former Lokayukta Santosh Hegde with conspiring to unseat former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa when he was in power.
Former Karnataka Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde on Monday favoured handing over the probe into illegal mining in the state to the Central Bureau of Investigation, maintaining that the Obalapuram Mining Company owned by former minister G Janardhana Reddy indulged in such activity.
Home Minister P Chidambaram on Monday said that if the leaked report of the Karnataka Lokayukta on illegal mining is correct, then it is an indictment of Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.
Justice Santosh Hegde on Saturday indicated that he may not resign from the joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's statement that the government was looking forward to enacting a strong anti-corruption legislation.
Key Team Anna member Justice N Santosh Hegde admitted on Wednesday that corruption and governance issues did not determine the outcome of Uttar Pradesh elections but said the anti-graft sentiment certainly worked in Goa.
Taking on a section of political class that questioned the need for civil society to contribute in law making, Team Anna member N Santosh Hegde on Friday sought annual auditing of Parliamentarians to assess their performance.
The Lokpal Bill, which seeks to curb corruption, has run into rough weather after the government objected strongly to certain clauses in the much-anticipated bill.The prime bone of contention during Monday's meeting between representatives of the civil society and the Centre was the proposed inclusion of both the prime minister and the judiciary within the purview of the Lokpal bill.
Reflecting a rift within Team Anna Hazare, Justice Santosh Hegde has disapproved of the anti-Congress campaign by activist Arvind Kejriwal during the Hisar bypolls, saying it was not the right thing to do and "we jumped the gun".
Former Karnataka Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde on Wednesday suggested that corporates and NGOs should also be brought under the purview of the Jan Lokpal bill.
Fresh controversy has erupted with regard to the Lokpal Bill with some members of the Bill drafting committee deciding not to take part in the next meeting.
Key Team Anna member N Santosh Hegde has said that it's foolish to expect blackmoney stashed away in Swiss banks by Indians as they would have "cleaned out" by now and transferred it to other tax havens.
The meeting of the Joint Drafting Committee of the Lokpal Bill, scheduled to be held later on Tuesday, is expected to be a decisive one. But the representatives of civil society don't have any high hopes from this meeting.
Team Anna member N Santosh Hegde on Friday blamed all political parties for non-passage of the Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha, saying it was "choreographed by everybody".
Retro is probably Surya's worst film till date, notes A Ganesh Nadar.
Putting an end to speculations on Saturday, Justice Hegde told rediff.com, "It is one of the most ridiculous rumours I have ever heard. On the one hand, I have been accused of being the one responsible for B S Yeddyurappa stepping down as chief minister because of my mining report. Now Yeddyurappa has rejoined the BJP and immediately the news floats that I too would be joining the same party. Does this not sound funny to you?
'I thought AAP will uphold administrative fairness which is not there. And it is an indication of the fact that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely'
The biggest problem today is that all political parties have become united, which is disastrous to the cause, says Justice Santosh Hegde.
A part of the Lokayukta Santosh Hegde's voluminous report on illegal mining, which has rocked the Karnataka government, deals specifically on the role of the Reddy brothers of Bellary in the multi-crore scam.
In the backdrop of transfer of Haryana IAS officer for probing land deals, former Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde on Thursday asked state and central governments to leave issue of transfers to bureaucracy.
Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj has rejected the resignation of the state's Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde. Sources in the Raj Bhavan, while refusing to reveal details about the governor's decision, confirmed that Justice Hegde's resignation had been rejected.The Lokayukta had tendered his resignation on Wednesday citing the failure of the government to protect the interest of the institution.Hegde slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party government for reneging on its promise.
Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde has decided to withdraw his resignation."If Governor H R Bhardwaj gives me an appointment, I will meet him on Sunday to withdraw my resignation," Hegde told reporters on Saturday.The top anti-corruption official had resigned to protest the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government's inaction about several of his reports, specially the one about the illegal mining lobby operating in Karnataka.
"If Sonia Gandhi admits in public that she does not like a vilification campaign then I would like to ask her why she hesitates to pull up her own colleagues who engage in such campaigns," said Justice Santosh Hegde, a member of the drafting committee of the Lokpal bill. Hedge threatened to quit on Thursday following statements from Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh, who had said that he (Hegde) had failed to control corruption in Karnataka.
Taking exception to former Team Anna member, Arvind Kejriwal launching a political party, Justice N Santosh Hegde said it has affected credibility of the movement against corruption in the country.
Justice Santosh Hegde has become a very popular face at the protests against corruption at Freedom Park in Bengaluru.
Justice Santosh Hegde has become a very popular face at the protests against corruption at Freedom Park in Bengaluru.
After making it clear that he was against the formation of a party, Anna Hazare on Wednesday met activists and experts in New Delhi to discuss the future course of action during which divergent opinions emerged over the movement taking a political course.
Former Supreme Court judge N Santosh Hegde says a political party floated purely on the anti-corruption plank will not succeed in elections at this stage as money power and diversity play a role.
Initially, it was all gold. But Justice Hegde's report exposed the dingy substrate of Bellary's mining operations.
A last ditch attempt by the Bharatiya Janata Party to refrain Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde from resigning has failed. State BJP unit chief K S Eshwarappa, Home Minister Dr V S Acharya and Law Minister Suresh Kumar met Justice Hegde and asked him to reconsider his decision, but the Lokayukta averred that he will not change his mind.
The stand-off between Karnataka government and Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde over the legality of ordering a judicial probe into land scams showed no sign of abating with the Ombudsman questioning the former's contention.
Karnataka Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde on Saturday issued a notice to Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on a complaint against him about denotification of lands.Earlier on Saturday, the Lokayukta expressed regret over his decision to withdraw his resignation over the government's inaction about the massive corruption in the state. While addressing the media at Bengaluru on Saturday, Justice Hegde said that he cannot now undo what has been done and he cannot resign again.
Amid intense speculation on the fate of the indicted Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, Karnataka Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde will submit his report on mining scam to the State government on Wednesday.
Key Team Anna member Justice (retd) N Santosh Hegde said on Friday that keeping money abroad without permission should be made an offence, as that alone would force countries to part information on such offenders with India.
"We propose to cover organisations like ISRO and arms deals under the purview of Jan Lokpal as they are important from internal security angle, besides the Prime Minister above all who will come under its jurisdiction," Karnataka Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde, part of the 10-member Joint Drafting Committee on Lokpal Bill, told media persons in Bengaluru.
Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Saturday backed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's demand for inclusion of a Dalit representative in the Lokpal drafting committee while Justice Santosh Hegde does not seem to find any merit in it.
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