Bangalore, Oct 2 (IANS) Karnataka Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda said Sunday he would not name a new Lokayukta (ombudsman) in ‘a hurry’ as it was ‘a sensitive matter’.
Karnataka, the first state in the country to have a Lokayukta, has been without one since Justice (retd) Shivaraj V. Patil quit Sep 19 under a cloud over acquiring two residential plots in Bangalore from two housing societies.
‘We are searching for a suitable person, who is acceptable to all people,’ Gowda told reporters here.
‘I do not want to decide the issue in a hurry. This is a sensitive matter. It will take some time,’ the chief minister said.
He declined to mention names under consideration.
‘I will not tell you. Only after the governor approves the name, I will announce,’ he said.
Patil, a former judge of the Supreme Court, denied he had violated any norms in purchasing the two plots, one in his name and another in his wife’s. But he still quit in view of what he described as ‘malicious campaign’ by media.
Patil was in office for just about 45 days. He took over Aug 3, succeeding another former Supreme Court judge N. Santosh Hegde whose report on illegal mining brought down the first Bharatiya Janata Party government headed by B. S. Yeddyurappa in the state on July 31.
The Lokayukta is appointed for a five-year term.
