Are deadlines meant only to be extended?

Several doubts loom large in the background as Hegde's retirement nears and the self-imposed deadline of July 15 to submit the report on illegal mining will not be met.

Several doubts loom large in the background as Hegde's retirement nears and the self-imposed deadline of July 15 to submit the report on illegal mining will not be met.

With the Lokayukta missing another self-imposed deadline of July 15 to submit the second report on illegal mining, serious doubts are being raised about its very effectiveness even as Justice N Santhosh Hegde's retirement is due for August 2.


Time please: Hegde has informed that the report will not be coming
out today and will need another 10 days to complete. File pic

The report touted to be politically explosive was expected to be ready last March and Hegde had said he would submit it later in the month. The move was postponed owing to the ongoing investigation on the same issue by different agencies such as CBI, CEC and ED.

Now however, Hegde has informed that the report will not be coming out today and will need another 10 days to complete. Many are now worried that with the Lokayukta watchdog retiring a few days after the report is eventually submitted, what are the chances that the report will not be put into cold storage.

This they feel is a possibility because no one has been considered to replace Hegde as of now, and the post will be vacant for a while thereafter.

Time criteria
"We need at least 10 more days to finish the job. I can assure that the report will be submitted before my retirement," Hegde said. He informed that the report would comprise around twenty chapters and that approximately 75 per cent of the work is complete.

However, concerns are being raised about the effectiveness of the report, as Hegde will retire within a couple of days of submission and his post will be kept vacant for sometime after that by the government.
"I am sure report will be relegated to cold storage with no one in a position to follow it up after Hegde's retirement. Keeping in mind the significance of the report, the Lokayukta should have considered this aspect and submitted it well in time," said V S Ugrappa, a Congress leader.

Marching deadline
Justifying the delay of submission in March, Hegde had said, "We need to exchange notes with these investigating agencies and I don't want to create any confusion at this stage by releasing our report at present."

ED, which is surveying 99 mines in the state, is yet to finish its job and the directorate has asked for extension of the deadline from July 15 to September. This edged the Lokayukta to detach itself from the ED and to push for submission of its report before Hegde retires. After missing several deadlines after March, the final date was fixed for July 15, and it now is certain that the corruption watchdog will miss this one as well.

Even as the Lokayukta expressed displeasure over the government's lukewarm response to his first report on illegal mining submitted in 2008, the second report is considered to be more explosive. This being because the task was taken up after the sensational Belekere ore theft case, which rattled the government last year.