Y Bhaskar Rao sworn in as new Lokayukta

Justice (retd) Y Bhaskar Rao was on Thursday sworn in as the Lokayukta, a post which had been lying vacant since September 2011.

The 75-year-old Rao, who had served as the Chief Justice of High Court, was administered the oath of office by Governor in a ceremonial function at the Raj Bhavan. Rao succeeds Justice (retd) Shivaraj V Patil who resigned from the post of Lokayukta in September 2011 following an allegation about illegal possession of a government site.

The post of Lokayukta had been lying vacant since then. Rao had also served as a member of the National Human Rights Commission. The retired judge refused to comment on a reporter’s query about allegations of irregularities levelled against him recently by Advocates Association of Bangalore (AAB).

To a question if he would expedite cases and had a roadmap before him, Rao said “you’ll see in course of time”. On whether he would make his assets public, he shot back “everything will be public. We will put it up on the website”.

Speaking on the sidelines of the function, Bhardwaj said, “I am happy, the initiative has been taken. He was the CJ here. He knows the language.” To another question, the Governor said “nowadays people don’t even leave God. I haven’t received any allegations.”

There were other reasons why I rejected him earlier. Let’s see how he performs. I want every institution to perform well here.”