K'taka govt plans to give more power to Lokayutka

Bangalore, July 31 (UNI) Karnataka Home Minister M P Prakash today said that the state government was planning to bring an ordinance to provide more powers to Lokayukta to help remove corruption in government departments.

Replying to a query raised by K G Bhopaiah of BJP in the Legislative Assembly, Mr Prakash said that the government was planning to bring an amendment to the Lokayutka Act during this session itself.

Mr Prakash, who was replying on behalf of Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said that an ordinance would be promulgated in this connection if the proposed amendment was not introduced to the Act during the session.

Lokayukta department had conducted 54 raids and they were in different stages of investigation, he said.

The department had recovered property worth of Rs 54 crore and had kept in the strong room at its head office, he said.

UNI