BENGALURU: Chief minister D K Shivakumar on Tuesday expressed reservations over the high court naming IPS officer Alok Kumar to probe the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) cash-for-jobs scam.Speaking on the sidelines of a government event in the city, Shivakumar said, “While we welcome the HC-monitored probe into the KPSC scam, I don’t know whether the HC has any powers to name the IPS officer to lead the investigation.”Shivakumar said there had previously been several judgments on the naming of officers for probes and the procedures to be followed.“I have been receiving calls from Delhi and other parts of the country as to how the courts could direct a certain officer to probe the scam. The HC can seek its own probe if it is unhappy with the CID probe or can even make it a court-monitored probe, but naming an officer to conduct the probe is infringing upon the rights of the government and the executive,” he said.Meanwhile, the CM said he was also looking at the legal possibilities of closing down the KPSC as an institution.He recalled that previously, under former CM Siddaramaiah, the number of members appointed to the KPSC was reduced from 15, considering the level of corruption in the institution by those appointed to the posts.“We are looking at legal options to close down KPSC. It has become a den of thieves and documents have been recovered which gives evidence of their levels of corruption,” he said, pointing to the conduct of former KPSC chairman Shivashankarappa Sahukar, which is under question.The CM said it was a question of the future of students but required serious legal assessment, as a constitutional change would be required and would need Presidential assent.
