BENGALURU: Are officers of Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) trying to make the most of the lacunae in the law as well as ambiguity about the definition of "public servant" to defer investigation into a complaint filed by a local advocate against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on his expensive Hublot wristwatch? Two days after Mr Nataraj Sharma lodged a complaint against Mr Siddaramaiah, officers of the ACB showed no signs of registering an FIR (First Information Report).
Besides, they chose to seek a legal opinion on the definition of "public servant" and whether legislators could be included in this category. None in the ACB was available to comment on the status of complaint lodged by the advocate. Law minister T B Jayachandra, who had described establishment of the ACB as "historic step" to weed out corruption, declined to take calls with his personal staff saying he was busy attending a series of meetings.
Former Lokayukta, Justice N Santosh Hegde, however, dismissed any ambiguity about the definition of "public servant" saying "any person, including the President or peon of any department, who draws emoluments, is a public servant. So, officers of ACB cannot delay registration of FIR against the Chief Minister on grounds of ambiguity. And, of course, the Chief Minister is a public servant because he enjoys all privileges and perks extended by the state government," he added.
