Panel for action against 617 officials

Illegal Mining * Committees report to be put before Karnataka Cabinet on Friday

A four-member committee set up by Karnataka Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda to study the Karnataka Lokayuktas July 27 report on illegal mining to recommend action against government officials has suggested disciplinary measures against 617 officials including seven all-India services officers from the administrative and forest services.

The report of the committee comprising four top bureaucrats given to Chief Secretary S V Ranganath on Monday is to be put before the Cabinet on Friday for approval. The state Cabinet has already sought clarifications from the Lokayukta in connection with elected representatives indicted in the report.

The expert committee has recommended further investigation against officers to allow them to be heard fully, the head of the committee,Additional Chief Secretary K Jairaj,said. Many of the government officers have so far denied playing active roles in the scandal despite being indicted.

Story continues below this ad

The expert committee has identified government officials who allegedly aided and abetted the illegal excavation,transport and export of several lakh metric tonnes of iron ore from the mining district of Bellary on the basis of findings in the Lokayukta report of July 27.

The Lokayukta report identified officials on the basis of its own investigations and documents seized from Karapudi Mahesh,a close associate of former Bellary district in-charge minister G Janardhan Reddy now arrested by the CBI in the course of a probe into illegal iron ore mining.

The documents seized from Mahesh by the Income Tax department record details of payments made to 617 officials in 17 districts of Karnataka to allow the transportation of iron ore that was looted or grabbed in the Bellary district. According to the Lokayukta,an amount of Rs 2.46 crore was paid as bribes to 617 government officials by Mahesh in the year 2009-10 alone.

Senior government sources said that the former director of the department of mines and geology M E Shivalinga Murthy is one of the IAS officers against whom disciplinary action has been recommended. Murthy is charged in the Lokayukta report of approving the issuance of mineral dispatch permits to the Associated Mining Company owned by the then minister in the BJP government G Janardhan Reddy after an illegal takeover and transfer of mining lease.

Story continues below this ad

Former deputy conservator of forests in Bellary S Muthaiah who is now a conservator of forests has also been recommended for punishment. He is already under suspension, government sources said.

Though the Lokayukta report named 787 officials,the committee whittled the list down due to a difficulty in clearly establishing the role of nearly 150 persons referred to in a document seized from a private company,the sources said.