Santosh Hegde

Justice Santosh Hegde’s relentless battle against corruption as the Karnataka Lokayukta may have been fraught since he assumed office in 2006. But a few days before his term ends — on Aug 2 2011 — his uncompromising stand against corruption paid off.He submitted the illegal mining report implicating Karnataka CM BS Yeddyurappa to the governor on 27 July, led to the CM’s resignation on the 28th and led the Supreme court to ban mining in Bellary with immediate effect on the 29th.[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="PTI"]

[/caption]Illegal mining had been his pet cause since he assumed office; the mining lobby operating in Bellary, Chitradurga and Tumkur epitomised systemic corruption in the state and was virtually untouchable, as ministers, bureaucrats and mining companies colluded to shied their interests.He had submitted an interim report on illegal mining in December 2008. But it was not acted upon. He had then hinted that he would “submit one more before demitting office".Hegde had noted that despite the Karnataka government’s claims that it banned iron ore export since June 2010 and did not grant permits to mining firms since the BJP came to power in May 2008 were untrue. Both the activities continued without impunity causing a loss of thousands of crores to the exchequer. In a Tehelka interview, he said that despite the Supreme Court’s ban on non-forest activity in a forest area, the mining companies did what they wanted to do. The Reddy’s, he added, “started doing other illegal things” and managed to escape scrutiny by buying off officers were from the departments of mines and minerals, forests, transport, police.In April 2010, he put in his papers, fed up with the government’s indifference and reinstatement of officers suspended on his reccommendation. The last straw came when a deputy conservator of forests (Karwar) was suspended after he seized illegally transported iron ore on Hegde’s directions. “I don't want to be useless sitting in a position. It is not enough if I catch people. I need powers to bring cases to logical conclusion," he told PTI. He later withdrew his resignation at the request of BS Yeddyurappa.The report submitted on 27 July 2011, besides Yeddyurappa, named revenue minister G Karunakara Reddy, infrastructure & tourism minister G Janardhana Reddy, health minister B Sriramulu and housing minister V Somanna, along with Kumaraswamy, Congress Rajya Sabha member Anil Lad and BJP lawmaker Anand Singh. According to the report, Yeddyurappa’s sons BY Raghvendra and BY Vijayendra, and son-in-law RN Sohan Kumar reaped a windfall from the mining companies in the form of donations and kickbacks, IANS reported.He is also a member in the Jan Lokpal bill drafting committee.Biodata from Karnataka government website:• Born on 16 June 1940 at Nitte Village of Karkala Taluk, Dakshina Kannada• Did most of the school education at St. Aloysius School, Mangalore and Madras Christian College, Madras• Did Law degree from Government Law College, Bangalore and joined the Bar in January 1966• Appointed as Advocate General in February 1984• Designated as Senior Advocate in May 1984 and continued as Advocate General from 1984 to 1988• Appointed as Additional Solicitor General of India in November 1989 and held the office for 11 months. Thereafter continued practice in the Supreme Court.• Appointed as Solicitor General of India in 1998• Appointed directly from the Bar as Judge of the Supreme Court of India in 1999• Retired as Judge of Supreme Court in June 2005• Appointed as Lokayukta of Karnataka State from 3 August 2006 for a term of 5 years