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Karnataka Today newsletter: FIR registered against CM Siddaramaiah by Mysuru Lokayukta in MUDA case

The Lokayukta in Mysuru filed an FIR against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, his wife and two others in connection with the alleged irregularities in the allotment of sites by Mysuru Urban Development Authority on September 27, 2024. According to Superintendent of Lokayukta in Mysuru T.J. Udesh, the FIR has been filed following a direction to the anti-corruption watchdog by the special court in Bengaluru.

While Mr. Siddaramaiah is named as accused number 1, his wife Parvathi is listed as accused number 2. Mr. Siddaramaiah’s brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy and Devaraju, who sold the plot of land to Mr. Swamy, have been named as accused 3 and 4, according to Mr. Udesh. 

Firmly rejecting demands for his resignation in the wake of the Special Court’s direction to Lokayukta police to register a case against him in the alleged irregularities in allotment of MUDA sites, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah questioned the BJP’s moral right to seek his resignation when Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel H. D. Kumaraswamy is out on bail.

Mr Siddaramaiah pointed out that an FIR had been registered against Mr Kumaraswamy, who is part of the BJP-led government at the Centre. Further, he pointed out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not step down as Chief Minister of Gujarat in the wake of Godhra riots, which claimed several lives.

The process of selecting guest lecturers for the academic year of 2024-25 has become complicated in the wake of the Karnataka High Court order that only those who have the qualifications specified by the University Grants Commission (UGC) should be appointed as guest faculty for Government First Grade Colleges in the State.

The Collegiate Education Department has temporarily halted the recruitment process of guest faculty due to the court order. The Karnataka State Eligibility Test (K-SET), National Eligibility Test (NET), or Ph.D is mandatory to become a permanent and guest faculty of a degree college as per UGC norms. But guest faculties who have been working in the government first grade colleges for the last two or three decades with just a master’s degree have run into trouble.

In a scientific breakthrough, a collaborative research team led by Dr. Anju Shukla, from Kasturba Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Dr. Stephanie Bielas from the University of Michigan in the US, and Dr. Quasar Padiath from the University of Pittsburgh in the US, has identified a new genetic disorder linked to a defect in the EPB41L3 gene.