BANGALORE: The High Court on Monday rejected an anticipatory bail petition filed by former chairman of Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) Dr H N Krishna, in connection with irregularities in selection of candidates for Karnataka Administrative Service (KAS) in 1998, 1999 and 2004.A single bench headed by Justice H Billappa, after hearing a batch of petitions filed by Krishna and candidates Y B Archana, D R Roopa, Asha Parveen and Salma Firdous, dismissed the petition of Krishna, considering the allegations serious in nature but granted anticipatory bail to others.The court considered the Criminal Investigation Department’s (CID) submission that the investigation by CID following a High Court order dated December 16, 2009 revealed several malpractices, irregularities in recruitment, such as fabricating caste certificates and forcibly obtaining signatures of a candidate. The court observed that the officials and non-officials in KPSC were prejudiced and were inclined towards certain castes, during the process of selection. The petitioner, prior to being a chairman of selection committee had faced several allegations, which need to be investigated. Mentioning the case of Allah Baksh, whose signature was taken forcibly to deprive him from being selected, despite scoring the highest marks, the court said that this being a case of conspiracy, the custody of the petitioner is required for interrogation and upheld the CID’s argument seeking to reject his bail plea.The CID in its submission had stated that though the petitioner had remitted office as KPSC chairman in 2007, the process of selection was taken up during his tenure. In connection with the petitioners other than Krishna, the court directed to furnish a bond of `1 lakh each and two surety each. The petitioners, excluding Archana, have been directed to appear before the Investigation Officer within ten days, while Archana has been granted four weeks time. The court also directed them not to tamper evidences and not to leave the city without permission from the jurisdictional police.Following a memo by Archana stating that she had obtained her certificate from Special Tahsildar, Bangalore North, the CID argued that though she had submitted caste certificate, she was selected under general category. The court considered the submission of all the petitioners who promised to cooperate with the investigation.
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