Bengaluru: The state Cabinet on Thursday decided to form a committee comprising top officials to “analyse” a judicial inquiry report on Covid-19 irregularities, which found misappropriation of “hundreds of crores” during the pandemic when the BJP was in power.
The commission, headed by former high court Justice John Michael Cunha submitted its 1,722-page interim report to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on August 31.
The Commission has been given a six-month extension to complete its inquiry.
Briefing reporters, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil said a team of top officials, including Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh and Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) LK Atheeq, will study Justice Cunha’s report and suggest the next steps within a month.
“The Chief Minister told the Cabinet that Justice Cunha’s report found misappropriation to the tune of hundreds of crores of rupees and noted that several key files were missing and not furnished before the commission in spite of repeated directions. The committee of senior officers will study as to who are the specific officials accused of dereliction of duty,” Patil said.
According to sources, Justice Cunha’s report has mentioned misappropriation worth Rs 1,120 crore.
Answering a reporter’s query on whether the report had mentioned specific individuals, officials and institutions, the minister did not deny the possibility but noted that he was yet to go through the report.
The Public Accounts Committee headed by H K Patil during the pandemic had raised concerns about the procurement of Covid-19 drugs and eqiupment.
Formed in August 2023, the Justice Cunha Commission was asked to probe allegations of irregularities in Covid-19 management starting from the first lockdown (March 2020) and till December 31, 2022. The first report submitted last week comprises 11 parts and has examined expenditure to the tune of Rs 7,223 crore.
Soon after the Commission submitted its report, former health minister Dr K Sudhakar, who is now the Chikkaballapur BJP MP, decried it as “politically-motivated” and said that the Congress government was resorting to “vendetta” politics.
During the Lok Sabha polls, Siddaramaiah had said that there was enough evidence of corruption against Sudhakar and that he would “go to jail 100 per cent”.