The Siddaramaiah cabinet in Karnataka has decided to hand over the interim report on Covid irregularities, submitted by Justice John Michael D'Cunha on August 30, to a team of officials under the chief secretary and additional chief secretary (Finance) to assess its findings.
Interestingly, the report submitted by the retired High Court judge mentions that several files related to Covid management were not submitted to the panel by the officials despite many requests.
The tenure of the inquiry commission formed in August 2023 has now been extended by six months. The panel is probing into irregularities committed in the procurement of medical equipment, vaccine purchase and distribution, and COVID management during the period between March 2020 to December 2022.
Parliamentary Affairs minister H.K. Patil, citing the report, informed presspersons that "misappropriation worth crores of rupees" had taken place.
"Many files sought by Justice D’Cunha were not provided (by the officials). The team of officials will now take up further analysis of the interim report and place it before the cabinet once again. The report will most likely be tabled in the state legislature in the next session," said Patil.
BJP MP from Chikkaballapur, Dr K. Sudhakar, who was the state health minister during the pandemic, accused the ruling Congress of playing "revenge politics" to target the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was embroiled in the land allotment (MUDA) scam.
Patil hit back saying the panel to probe Covid irregularities was formed a year back, but the MUDA case came to be discussed only in the last two months and there is no correlation between the two cases.
Earlier in the day, BJP veteran B.S. Yeddyurappa, who was the chief minister during the pandemic, chose to downplay the question on the Covid scam and said, "The government is free to probe into any scam. Let them make the report public. It is their wish."
Incidentally, the High Court which is hearing the chief minister's appeal challenging the sanction order against him by the Governor in the MUDA case had asked the respondents if a judicial inquiry would suffice in the matter. Interestingly, the respondents (who had petitioned with the governor against the CM) stated they had no confidence in a judicial probe as the inquiry reports are often put in cold storage.
The multi-crore Covid scam probed by the judicial commission is at the risk of being lost in the oblivion after hitting several political bumps and bureaucratic delays and hassles. Till now, judicial commission reports have evaded the public domain and ended up as tools in the hands of political parties to "rein in" their opponents.