High Court asks Karnataka to complete ’40% commission’ probe in 6 weeks

mangaloretoday.com

Bengaluru, Feb 14, 2024: The Karnataka High Court has set a deadline of six weeks for the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in the state to complete the probe into the allegations of "40 per cent commission" by contractors in public works during the previous BJP regime.

 

At a recent hearing, Justice M Nagaprasanna questioned why the probe by the one-man commission wasn’t completed within the stipulated 45 days. Justice HN Nagamohan Das (retired) is scrutinising the allegations.
Advocate General Shashikiran Shetty informed the court that 75 per cent of the contract dues had already been disbursed to the contractors.

AS Ponnanna, legal advisor to the Chief Minister said, "I have not gone through the observation of the High court. It is not the government which is investigating the probe, it is a retired judge who is investigating the probe."

"In what context the High court has said this I don’t know. It has questioned on the private petition. The former BJP-led state government was accused of a 40 per cent commission. This has to be probed thoroughly...The government is very responsible, and we formed a committee," Ponnanna further said.

Three months after the Congress government came to power in Karnataka in May last year, it ordered a judicial probe into the allegations of "40 per cent commission" for public projects during the previous BJP-led regime.

The Karnataka State Contractors’ Association had written to the Prime Minister as well as the former Chief Minister about 40 per cent commission being charged on all public projects.

Even before the commencement of work, the association claimed that 25 to 30 per cent commission had to be paid to the public representatives while the remaining was paid after completion of work.

Courtesy: India Today