Lokayukta complaint against CM?over appointment of KSPCB?chief

May 6, 2016

Bengaluru, May 6: A complaint has been filed with the Lokayukta against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over the appointment of real estate businessman Lakshmana as the chairperson of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB).

siddaT Narasimha Murthy, the complainant, said that the appointment was in violation of the provisions under The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act and that it was the chief minister who chose Lakshmana, though it was not recommended by the search committee.

The complaint said that Lakshmana is a civil engineer and has no past experience relating to environment protection.

The process to choose the chairperson for the KSPCB started in August 2015 when Madan Gopal, the then Additional Chief Secretary Forest, Ecology and Environment Department, recommended the constitution of the search committee headed by the then Chief Secretary Kaushik Mukherjee.

Other members of the committee constituted were Prof Ravindranath of IISc and Capt Raja Rao, former member of KSPCB and Madan Gopal (member-secretary). The committee shortlisted five names among those who applied for the post. The names were Prof E T Puttaiah, G T Chandrashekharappa, Dr J R Mudkavi, Dr B S Jai Prakash and Prof B B Hosetti.

“As per the documents, the list finalised by the search committee did not have the name of Lakshmana till December 12, 2015. However, on December 10, Minister for Forests, Ecology and Environment Ramanath Rai inserted the name of Lakshmana stating “done as per the discussion with the chief minister,” the complainant said.

Less than 10 days after inserting Lakshmana's name, the chief minister passed an order recommending the appointment.

Required qualifications

The qualifications and experience prescribed for the post are: Masters degree in science or equivalent B Tech in discipline relating to environment, 10 years experience in government departments, institutions, central public sector undertakings, universities, recognised research institutions, autonomous or semi-government or statutory organisations or NGOs at managerial levels, with practical experience in matters relating to environmental protection.

The complaint said that Lakshmana is a civil engineer with no experience in environmental protection.

Narasimha Murthy submitted the complaint to Upalokayukta Justice N Ananda. The complaint has been filed against Siddaramaiah, Minister Ramanath Rai, Chief Secretary Aravind Jadhav, Madan Gopal and Lakshmana.

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News Network
March 19,2020

New Delhi, Mar 19: The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the validity of Karnataka's 2018 reservation law, which granted reservation in promotion to employees belonging to SC and ST categories.

A bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud holds that applications filed by a group of general category employees for applying 'post-based quota' and the principle of the creamy layer at entry-level in public employment are not maintainable.

The apex court had, in November last year, reserved its order on the applications filed by general category candidates in the matter.

In May last year, the top court had upheld the law allowing reservations in promotions for SC and ST candidates with consequential seniority.

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coastaldigest.com news network
June 18,2020

Udupi, Jun 18: Two youths lost their lives in a ghastly road mishap involving a vegetable-laden mini truck near Santhekatte in Udupi today. 

The deceased have been identified as Dinesh (35) and Manjunath (21), both hailed from Balkur village in Kundapur taluk.

The accident took place at around 7 a.m. when the mini truck was carrying vegetables from Kundapur to Udupi. 

According to sources, Dinesh, who was driving the vehicle, lost control and rammed into a pole next to the national highway. 

Both Dinesh and his assistant Manjunath suffered head injuries in the accident. They were rushed to Ajjarkad district hospital where they were declared dead on arrival.

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News Network
May 2,2020

Bengaluru, May 2: The Centre’s classification of districts created confusion in Karnataka as the state’s own categorisation deviates significantly from the health ministry’s list.

For instance, the Centre put the number of districts in the red zone in state at three, while the state Covid-19 war room puts it at 14. Bengaluru Urban and Mysuru figure in the red zone in both lists. While Bengaluru Rural with zero active cases on May 1makes it to the Centre’s red-zone list, it is in the orange zone according to the state.

In addition to these two, the state classifies Belagavi, Kalaburagi, Vijayapura, Bagalkot, Mandya, Bidar, Dakshina Kannada, Chikkaballapura, Dharwad, Gadag, Tumakuru and Davanagere as red-zone districts.

State Covid war-room authorities said they would take a look at the Centre’s criteria for classification and take a call. Besides, incharge Munish Mudgil pointed out that states are allowed to make additions to the red and orange zones. According to the Centre’s list, Karnataka has 13 districts in the orange zone and 14 in the green zone.

Sudan said, “the districts were earlier designated as hotspots or red zones, orange zones and green zones primarily based on the cumulative cases reported and the doubling rate. Since recovery rates have gone up, the districts are now being designated across various zones duly broad-basing the criteria.

This classification takes into consideration incidence of cases, doubling rate, extent of testing and surveillance feedback. A district will be considered under the green zone if there are no confirmed cases so far or if there is no reported case in the past 21 days.”

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