Bengaluru, Sep 23 Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Wednesday hit out at Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar over his statement that the government was consulting legal experts on abolishing the KPSC.
He said the CM appeared to have no understanding of the importance of the institution.
Kumaraswamy was referring to Shivakumar’s statement on Tuesday that the government was considering abolishing the Karnataka Public Service Commission.
“The KPSC as an institution is functioning well; it is only that bad people have come and occupied positions there. The fence itself is grazing the field. Who appointed them there? Who allowed them to open a shop for bribery?” the Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Steel said in a statement.
Kumaraswamy advised the CM to understand the KPSC, its structure and functioning, the constitutional protection accorded to it, and its history and achievements before making “irresponsible and impulsive” statements.
“If weeds grow in a field, they should be uprooted; the field itself should not be poisoned,” he said.
The Karnataka High Court on Monday ordered a five-member SIT headed by Alok Kumar, DGP (Prisons and Correctional Services), to conduct a fresh probe into alleged irregularities in KPSC recruitment.
It directed the CID and jurisdictional police to hand over their records and evidence to the Special Investigation Team and asked it to complete the probe within 100 days, with progress reports every 30 days.
The Karnataka Cabinet recently decided to recommend to Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot the suspension of KPSC Chairman Shivashankarappa S Sahukar.
The decision came days after the Karnataka High Court quashed Sahukar’s earlier suspension and directed his reinstatement, while leaving open the possibility of fresh proceedings if the prescribed constitutional procedure was followed.
The High Court had held that the Governor could not have independently suspended Sahukar under Article 317(2) of the Constitution without the prior aid and advice of the Council of Ministers.
Sahukar was suspended by the Governor on July 13 following allegations that he had facilitated the alleged illegal selection of his two daughters as Industrial Extension Officers.
Large-scale irregularities had also been alleged in the recruitment of veterinary doctors.
(PTI News)
