Selective disclosure for political points?

The selective leak of the Justice Michael D’Cunha Commission report which recommended the prosecution of former chief minister B S Yediyurappa and former health minister B Sriramulu for Covid-related corruption, has sparked a political firestorm in Karnataka. What should have been a full, transparent disclosure of the findings has, instead, become a political tool with the government choosing to release only a small portion of the report related to procurement of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits. This raises serious questions: why is the government withholding findings on other key figures, including Yediyurappa’s successor Basavaraj Bommai and former health minister K Sudhakar, who were also at the helm during the height of the pandemic? Is this a genuine effort to hold the guilty accountable or an attempt at political manoeuvring? In fact, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah himself recently claimed that there is enough evidence in the report to “send Sudhakar to jail”; yet, his name does not figure in the leak.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Karnataka legislature was the first to sound the alarm over massive corruption in Covid procurements, prompting the Siddaramaiah government to set up the D’Cunha Commission. After reviewing over 55,000 documents, the panel submitted an interim report detailing a range of irregularities, including the purchase of expired drugs and procurement of sub-standard medical supplies. These actions not only led to unnecessary expenditure but also potentially endangered public health during the pandemic. The report reveals that despite the availability of domestic suppliers offering lower prices, the government chose to procure PPE kits from foreign companies at inflated rates, incurring a loss of Rs 14 crore to the state.

Karnataka is notorious for its ‘adjustment politics’ where political parties shield each other from accountability. This selective leak only fuels suspicion that the government is using the commission’s report to target certain individuals while protecting others. Instead of adopting delaying tactics, the government should move swiftly to obtain the Governor’s sanction for the prosecution of all the accused. The Governor, Thaawar Chand Gehlot, has been accused of adopting a partisan stance in the past, particularly when he was quick to grant permission for investigations against Siddaramaiah in the MUDA controversy, but slow to act on files related to BJP and JD(S) leaders. If the Governor continues to withhold sanction for prosecution, the government should not hesitate to approach the courts. The Governor must uphold the Constitution, not political expediency, and ensure that justice is not obstructed. The people of Karnataka deserve full transparency and accountability. Only by ensuring that no one is above law can the government restore public trust in its institutions.