Mining: HC to look into U V Singhs report

BANGALORE: The High Court on Monday stated that it will first look into the report of Dr U V Singh before proceeding into former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa petition challenging the Lokayukta report in which he has been indicted.The division bench comprising Justice K L Manjunath and Justice H S Kempanna adjourned the hearing of  the petition to Wednesday asking senior advocate Ravi B Naik, who was appearing for the former chief minister, to submit the report of Dr Singh.Earlier, Naik argued that the former Lokayukta adopted in toto the report of Dr U V Singh, without probing the findings. Singh in his report had traced the possible relationship between Jindal Group of Companies with M/s South West Mining Company Limited. “So, we have to first look in to the report of Dr Singh. We cannot ascertain the matter without looking into the report,” observed the bench. Further the court said its needs to look into how Singh prepared the report, how many witnesses he has examined and recorded their statements before coming to conclusions. “We are not astrologers to assume,” the court observed. Naik also argued over the report of illegal mining sought by the state government under Sec 7 (2-A) of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act 1984.