The State government on Thursday decided to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to further investigate the PSI recruitment scam. The decision follows recommendation by B. Veerappa Commission that inquired into the scam earlier.
Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, in his post-Cabinet briefing on Thursday, said that the commission identified 113 persons, including government officials, middlemen, and private persons involved in the recruitment scam. “Despite the commission issuing notices, some persons did not depose before the commission though they made statements publicly. Hence, the commission recommended to the State government to institute a SIT since it had criminal and corruption nature. The Cabinet accepted the recommendation,” he said.
While the SIT will look into aspects raised by the commission, the Minister said that the CID is parallelly investigating 17 cases.
Meanwhile, among other major cabinet decisions, the Government approved ₹40 crore for primary health centres to acquire modern equipment since they had not been upgraded since the last three to four years. Besides, he said that the Government has also approved 33 new primary health centres in Kalyana Karnataka region at a cost of ₹4 crore each.
The government has also approved ₹163.75 crore towards construction of library, and hostels for boys and girls Veterinary College at Kadaba in Dakshin Kannada and ₹ 82.55 crore for boys and girls hostel at Veterinary College in Athani. It also approved ₹ 170 crore for a new hostel building for Maharani’s Arts and Science College in Mysuru.
Agri Innovation Centre to be set up
In an effort to promote bio tech start-ups to enhance agriculture productivity and crop protection, the government will set up Agri Innovation Centre at Electronic City in Bengaluru at a cost of ₹67.5 crore.
‘Why are Tamils not included in CAA?’
While the Karnataka Cabinet was expected to discuss CAA, the rules of which was notified by the Centre, the discussion did not take place on Thursday. “We will take a stand on it. Why are Sri Lankan Tamils kept away from CAA? Caught between Sri Lankan government and LTTE, a large number of Tamils fled Sri Lanka and are living in South India. It is a genuine case and they were victims of ethnic conflict that also had a religious angle. There could be some in Karnataka as well that I do not know,” Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said.
