KPSC scam: Govt will proceed with legal action, says Minister

Government will proceed with initiating legal action against Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) members allegedly involved in a recruitment scam, Law Minister T B Jayachandra said today.
"Already (in their preliminary report), they (CID) have sought prosecution of all KPSC members, and government will proceed with it," Jayachandra told reporters here, adding, action would be taken against KPSC members involved.
The state cabinet on August 7 had scrapped the 2011 provisional list of gazetted probationary officers for group A and B services and ordered re-examination, after a Criminal Investigation Department probe reported largescale malpractices.
Jayachandra said government has all powers to either reject or approve the list, thus repudiating JDS leader and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy's arguments that the cabinet does not have any right to reject the list.

"The government has all the rights to either reject or approve the list," he said.
Kumaraswamy yesterday had argued that the cabinet does not have any right to reject KPSC list, instead it rested with the state Legislative Assembly.

Jayachandra said as per rule 11 of the Gazetted Probationers (Appointment by Competitive Examinations) 1977, no candidate shall be appointed unless the government is satisfied.
"Also Rule 12 says that the very inclusion of the candidate's name in the list itself confirms no right of appointment because the appointing authority is the government," he added.
Asked to comment on Kumaraswamy's allegations that CID in its investigation report has not mentioned the alleged involvement of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in KPSC recruitment process, Jayachandra said, "It is a preliminary report and based on it, there is sufficient reason for the government to believe examination system itself (was) bad."

Kumaraswamy had alleged that Siddaramaiah had tried to influence KPSC recruitment process by telephoning one of the KPSC members 72 times to select some candidates, a charge refuted by the Chief Minister.
Jayachandra ruled out the question of going back on their decision to reject the list, especially when the CID report suggests corruption in entire KPSC setup. "The government has rejected the list because the entire KPSC system was afflicted with corruption. There is no other reason, including political," he said.