Shankar Rao asked to furnish property details

HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh Lokayukta justice S Ananda Reddy served a notice on handlooms and textiles minister P Shankar Rao on Wednesday, asking him to furnish particulars of the properties owned by him and his family members to the Lokayukta within 40 days.The Lokayukta was acting in response to a letter written by the minister seeking an inquiry into the allegations against himself and his family members. The matter has been posted for hearing on September 19.Not stopping at it, the Lokayukta lambasted Shankar Rao for his lack of knowledge about the powers of the Andhra Pradesh Lokayukta. In his letter, Shankar Rao, hailing the action of the Karnataka Lokayukta which initiated action against the illegal mining in Karnataka, reportedly wondered why the AP Lokayukta was not initiating such inquiries and not taking action against corrupt persons (with reference to Kadapa MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy). He wanted the Lokayukta to investigate the alleged irregularities against YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and a few corrupt ministers apart from an inquiry into the allegations against himself and his family members.“It appears the minister is not aware of the difference between the powers of the Lokayuktas of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh under the respective State Acts. A number of amendments were sought for empowering the AP Lokayukta but the proposals were kept pending with the state government for more than three years. Very limited amendments were allowed recently rejecting major amendments which are required to strengthen the institution of the Lokayuka,” justice Ananda Reddy said in his notice.The Lokayukta reminded Shankar Rao that he was one of the members of the cabinet which approved the limited powers while rejecting major powers sought by the Lokayukta. The minister was asked to provide any information/material available with him against certain corrupt ministers in the state cabinet to enable the Lokayukta to take further action.With regard to the alleged irregularities in the office of the director-general of police, the Lokayukta said that that a suo motu complaint number 1903/2010 was registered and the principal secretary (home) was asked to submit a report in this regard. After inquiring into the incident, the principal secretary submitted a report disputing and denying allegations reported in the media based on which the complaint was registered.Shankar Rao told reporters later that he would submit a report with information sought by the Lokayukta at least a week before the scheduled date, and sounded confident that he would come out clean.