Last Updated: September 09, 2022, 23:03 IST
File photo of Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. (Image: PTI)
The announcement came nearly a month after the High Court quashed the March 14, 2016 order of the then state government forming the ACB
The Karnataka government on Friday issued an order abolishing the Anti-Corruption Bureau and all cases pending with the ACB will be transferred to the Lokayukta. The announcement came nearly a month after the High Court quashed the March 14, 2016 order of the then state government forming the ACB.
The court had stated that the cases pending before the ACB were to be shifted to the Lokayukta. The staff and personnel of the ACB would be absorbed in the Lokayukta. The court then directed the government to appoint competent persons as Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayukta in the public interest.
The judgment of the Division Bench of Justice B Veerappa and Justice KS Hemalekha came on a petition challenging the ACB’s formation and the subsequent March 16, 2016 government order withdrawing the powers of the Lokayukta police from registering and investigating cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The formation of the ACB through an “executive order” is not justified and Constitutional, the judgment had said.
However, the court had said that the actions taken by ACB so far would stand. The two 2016 notifications of the government were challenged in a bunch of petitions by various petitioners, including the Advocates Association, Bengaluru, Chidananda Urs and ‘Samaja Parivartana Samudaya’.
(with inputs from PTI)
Read all the Latest News India and Breaking News here