Karnataka High Court to nominate new head for SIT to probe KPSC irregularities on Monday

Justice M. Nagaprasanna says that the court will pass orders on head of the SIT by considering the names of four senior officers suggested by the State government in terms of the order passed by the apex court on an appeal filed by the government.

The State government on Friday issued a notification declaring the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which has been constituted by the High Court of Karnataka to probe cases related to alleged irregularity and corruption in recruitment process in the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC), to be a police station under Section 2(1)(u) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).

The notification was issued as the High Court on October 28 questioned the inaction on the part of the State government in not declaring the SIT as a police station in terms of High Court’s September 21 direction even 15 days after the Supreme Court on October 13 upheld the order of the High Court in constituting a SIT by the High Court.

The investigation officers appointed to the SIT are authorised under Section 193 of the BNSS to file police reports before the competent courts after investigation into the two cases related to the KPSC irregularities, it has been stated in the notification, a copy of which has been submitted to the High Court on Friday.

Justice M. Nagaprasanna, who took on record the notification, said that the court would pass orders on head of the SIT by considering the names of four senior officers suggested by the State government in terms of the order passed by the apex court on an appeal filed by the government.

The government had filed appeal before the apex court against the High Court’s September 21 order of constituting the SIT, appointing Director-General of Police Alok Kumar as its head, along with four other IPS officers, and directing the SIT to conduct investigation afresh.

However, as the apex court had observed that “...having regard to the seriousness of the allegations and possibility of the involvement of functionaries in the KPSC, the case requires investigation by a SIT comprising high ranking officers, therefore, we do not find a good reason to interfere with the impugned order (of the High Court) insofar as it directs for investigation by an SIT.”

As the apex court found the SIT a necessity, the government had confined its challenge “only to the composition of the SIT and the direction to conduct investigation afresh by pointing out certain reservation about Mr. Kumar heading it.

Besides, the government had pointed out possible conflict of interest in the inclusion of IPS officer Divya Gopinath, Director of Forensic Sciences Laboratory, in the SIT.

Though the apex court set aside the High Court’s order for conducting probe afresh, it left it to the High Court to appoint/substitute the head/member in the SIT constituted earlier, while giving liberty to the State government to suggest names of senior police officers to the SIT.

Now, the State government has suggested Additional Directors General of Police, R. Hitendra, B.K. Singh, S. Murugan, and Soumendu Mukherjee to head the SIT, and the advocates for the petitioners, Basanagouda R. Patil Yatnal, MLA, All Karnataka State Students’ Association, and Manjunath, who had sought probe by independent investigation for the KPSC irregularities, have filed their objections/responses for nominating among these officers to the SIT.