Karnataka Lokayukta resigns

BANGALORE: Karnataka Lokayukta Justice (Retd) Shivaraj Virupanna Patil Monday resigned 47 days after assuming office amid charges that he and his wife had bought two residential sites violating housing society rules. Karnataka Governor H.R. Bhardwaj will take a call on the resignation.

"A malicious campaign has been carried out in the past few days against me, which has deeply hurt and pained me. In this uncongenial atmosphere, I have deemed it appropriate to submit my resignation," Patil, 71, told reporters at a press conference soon after meeting Bhardwaj at Raj Bhavan here.A Raj Bhavan spokesperson told IANS that "Justice Patil met the governor and has given a letter"."We are yet to hear from the governor," the spokesperson said.This is the second Lokayukta resignation that Bhardwaj has received. The first was that of Patil's predecessor N. Santosh Hegde in June last year.Raj Bhavan sources said Bhardwaj may not act on Patil's request immediately, going by the past experience as he had declined to accept Hegde's resignation.


There was no immediate reaction from Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda to Patil's resignation. Gowda succeeded B.S. Yeddyurappa, who quit July 31 after Hegde recommended his trial for graft in the illegal mining scam, bringing down the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) first government in south India.Patil, who took oath Aug 3 as the sixth Lokayukta in the state, was a retired judge of the Supreme Court like Hegde."My only discomforting thought is am I giving up this office yielding to the malicious campaign of a few and letting down the hopes of many who had reposed their faith in me," an emotional Patil said reading from a written statement in English.


Though Patil denied any wrong-doing in buying a 4,012 square feet housing site in his wife Annapurna's name from Vyalikaval House-Building Cooperative Society (VHBCS) near Nagavara on the city's outskirts in 2006, he asked her to surrender the registered site Sep 14."Shockingly, instead of treating surrender of the site as a step in the right direction, it was treated and campaigned as if it is an acceptance of a mistake and a grave crime had been committed," Patil lamented.According to the state cooperative housing society rules, citizens who already own a plot or a house in a city are not eligible to get a plot from a housing society, as the plots are sold at prices much lower than in the market for the members of a society.

Patil's contention is that his wife was not allotted a plot by the Vyalikaval society but it was bought in an auction or on an outright basis."After I retired from the Supreme Court in 2006, my wife purchased a site at Nagavara layout on outright sale basis (auction), as the society failed to form a layout and allot sites to its members,' Patil said."When the society, which borrowed money from a bank, defaulted in repayment, the land was sought to be attached. As the members feared that the land would be lost and they may not get a refund, they represented to the government seeking permission to sell sites on an outright sale basis so as to facilitate repayment to the bank," Patil recalled.Clarifying that his wife did not file an affidavit making false declaration and hence there had been no misrepresentation, Patil said as the sale of the site was on outright basis, there was no restriction for the purchase."All the purchases have been through legitimate funds generated and accounted for," Patil noted.Narrating the sequence of events, Patil said he purchased a small site at Vasanthnagar in the city centre in 1982 when he was a practicing lawyer at the Karnataka High Court.

"Thereafter, while I was a judge of the high court, I was allotted a site in the judicial layout in 1994 by the Karnataka Judicial Department Employees House Building Cooperative Society. Though the allotment in favour of judges was challenged in the high court, it was dismissed. When it was challenged in the Supreme Court, the same was also dismissed," Patil asserted.Three weeks after assuming office, Patil Aug 25 declared his and his wife's assets, which are to the tune of over Rs.3.7 crore.As per the details put up on the Lokayukta website, Patil has immovable assets valued at Rs.62,47,556 and his wife Rs.66,34,880. He owns fixed deposits of Rs.63,33,000 and his wife has Rs.10 lakh in deposits.The total value of assets owned by the couple has been put at Rs.3,72,00,000. He has liabilities of Rs.77.72 lakh.