Judicial probe begins into mining controversy

The Karnataka government on Saturday appointed former chief justice of the Madhya Pradesh high court, justice U L Bhat as the chairperson of the judicial commission.

It is being set up to inquire into the mining controversy, including the bribery charges levelled against chief minister H D Kumaraswamy by suspended BJP MLC K Janardhana Reddy.

The notification appointing Bhat as the head of the panel came a day after the state cabinet decided to conduct a judicial probe into the mining row. Reddy had alleged that Rs 150 crore had been collected on behalf of Kumaraswamy, forest minister C Chennigappa, home minister M P Prakash and his son.

He said the amount was paid for the transfer of Bellary superintendent of police Pankaj Kumar Thakur, who was probing illegal mining.

The bribery issue dominated the recently concluded legislature proceedings. For two weeks, the government could not transact any business and was forced to pass the state budget (2006-07) without discussion. Both Kumaraswamy and Prakash dismissed the allegations as "baseless".

In a dramatic turnaround, tourism minister and Bellary district in charge minister B Sriramulu, a close aide of Reddy, has parted ways with the suspended MLC. Interestingly, it was at Sriramulu's residence that Reddy had charged the chief minister with accepting bribe.

On Saturday, Sriramulu told reporters that he would abide by the party's decision to suspend Reddy from the party. "I am a BJP worker and will accept whatever decision the party leaders take," he stated.

Meanwhile, Kumaraswamy has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to consult states before going ahead with the recommendations made by the Planning Commission's Panel on National Mineral Policy. The panel has recommended amendments favouring private mining enterprises.

In a letter to Singh, the panel said it would also appear that the recommendations seemed to undermine the role of state and central public sector enterprises in mining.