Mangaluru: Mangalore Bar Association (MBA) held a press meet at the District Court premises here, on March 24.
Addressing the mediapersons, president of the Association S P Chengappa said, “The state government has introduced Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) and a debate is underway if it should be withdrawn in the Vidhan Sabha. We the members of MBA are against the ACB as it will destroy the Lokayukta.”
He said that the Karnataka Lokayukta has been in a bad state after the appointment of Y Bhaskar Rao as the Lokayukta. “There were numerous cases that followed after Bhaskar was appointed as the Lokayukta, his son was also involved in a corruption case,” he added.
Chengappa further said that Lokayukta had been a strong arm of the judiciary when it was established and it had even tackled corruption in the ministry. But now the Lokayukta was losing its shine. “An additional Lokayukta was appointed, but now we have no idea of his whereabouts. The state government has introduced the ACB and taken away the primary rights of the Lokayukta. This will lead to corruption among the bureaucrats and in the ministry,” he said.
He demanded that the ACB be scrapped and instead the Lokayukta be strengthened. “The Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) and the National Human Rights Commission has no chairman either. The results of the KPSC exam mains, which was held in September 2015 is not yet declared. We demand the appointment of chairmans for the KPSC and NHRC at the earliest.”
The Consumer Rights Forum in the district is in a pathetic state as there was no adequate staff including Kannada typists. “660 cases are pending and the consumers are blaming the lawyers for the delay. There is no staff and hence an Additional Consumer Forum should be established in the district,” he added.
The fresh recruits were allowed a stipend of Rs 2000 per month but there was a cap of Rs 40000 as the income limit. Chengappa demanded that this cap be removed. “Even a beggar earns more than Rs 40000 per annum,” he added. He said that this cap would promote corruption as candidates would make false income certificates by paying bribes.
He demanded the work of the new road sanction in 2014 at a cost of Rs 11 crore to the court complex be started immediately and asked to raise the limit of welfare funds to the lawyers to Rs 8 lakh.
Vice President Yashodhar P Karkera; Secretary, Raghavendra H V; Treasurer Yathish and Joint Secretary, Suman Sharan were also present.