Karnataka job fraud: Supreme Court stays SIT probe after state's objection

The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the Karnataka High Court order to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising specific police officers to begin fresh investigations of two cases of recruitment fraud in the Karnataka Public Service Commission, following a plea by the state government.

The state government argued that the high court had created the SIT without finding any fault with the ongoing investigations by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in the cases.

"There is no comment on the investigation and the judge says 'I will set up an SIT'. There is no ground. There are no adverse findings. Why should the judge have chosen the officers?" senior counsel Kapil Sibal, appearing for the government, told a bench of Justices Manoj Mishra and Vijay Bishnoi.

In an order on September 21, the high court directed the constitution of an SIT headed by the Karnataka prisons and correctional services DGP Alok Kumar to conduct fresh investigations into an alleged fraud in the KPSC recruitment of 400 veterinary doctors and illegal recruitment of suspended KPSC chairman Shivashankarappa Sahukar's daughter in the state industries and commerce department.

The government argued in the Supreme Court that the high court had chosen the SIT members without consulting the government.

"The state has impugned the direction primarily on the ground that the investigation of the aforesaid cases was nearing completion and there are no specific allegations against the investigating agency which was conducting the investigations of the subject cases," the court observed in its brief order staying the high court order.

"Besides, they have objection to the direction which requires the SIT to undertake a de novo investigation. It has been submitted that there is no need for a de novo investigation, particularly when there were no allegations of mala fide against the investigating agency," the court further said.

"In addition, the state has objections to some of the members who comprise the SIT as constituted under the directions of the HC," the court said, referring to the government's argument that some of the officers had faced allegations of misuse of power.

The Supreme Court also stayed the direction for fresh investigations into the KPSC scams.

"In the meantime, the direction in paragraph 34 (i) and (ii) shall be stayed. By the next date, the state shall submit in sealed cover delineating the objections, if any, against the members of the SIT constituted by the order of the HC. They may also suggest alternative names for the SIT," the court said.

The SIT was to include IPS officers Divya Gopinath, Anup A Shetty, Kushal Chouksey, and Kshama Mishra, as per the high court order.

'Entire investigation is wiped off'

The high court had objected to the CID or police investigating the cases, in which the suspended KPSC chairman is among the accused.

"In the peculiar facts obtained in these cases, I do not deem it appropriate to permit investigations at the hands of the CID or the local police. I am equally not persuaded that entrustment of investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation is the only available course. In exercise of the jurisdiction of this court under Article 226, I deem it appropriate to constitute a special investigation team," the court said in its order.

The Supreme Court, however, observed that the SIT's investigation would tamper with the investigations already done. "The problem here is de novo, which means the entire investigation is wiped off. Second, if they have reservations against the SIT, which is constituted and papers are handed over to the SIT, what happens? Whatever investigation has been done gets tampered with," the court said.

"If it has been a regular pattern and the accused is a very high-ranking official, then in such circumstances, the constitution of an SIT is itself not bad," it added.

Bribes for jobs and fake income certificate for OBC quota

In the veterinary exam fraud case, the CID has arrested the former KPSC exam controller Gyanendra Kumar Gangwar, 41, an IAS officer, for allegedly leaking the exam questions to around 20 candidates through a middleman, Basavaraj Kannale, who is linked to the Opposition BJP.

Kannale allegedly collected Rs 20 to 40 lakh from around 20 students. The CID has found that around Rs 52 lakh of the bribes were used to buy jewellery for a friend of Gangwar.

The FIR alleges that 29 candidates got high ranks in the exam despite being average performers in regular academics at veterinary science colleges in Karnataka.

In the second case, the suspended KPSC chairman's daughter is accused of furnishing a fake income certificate of annual family earnings of Rs 40,000 to be selected as an industrial extension officer in an OBC reservation category.