A committee headed by retired High Court judge HN Nagamohan Das has been set up by the Karnataka government to investigate the allegations of the Karnataka State Contractors Association that government officials and Karnataka BJP MLAs, during the previous regime, demanded 40% commission or bribe from contractors for every project. The deputy secretary of the Public Works Department (PWD) issued the order constituting the committee, and directed them to submit their reports within 30 days. The committee has been constituted based on the complaint filed by the president of Karnataka State Contractors Association D Kempana.
The PWD order also states that though the allegations were “serious in nature”, there was no probe conducted by the government. “The new government intends to implement transparency in governance,” it said. The order also states that Nagamohan Das can get advice from technical advisers, financial advisers, etc during the probe, and find out how administrative approvals were provided, how the quality of works were assessed, how bills were fabricated, etc.
The 40% commission issue came to light in April 2022, when Belagavi-based contractor Santhosh Patil died by suicide. He had been given the contract to construct roads worth Rs 4 crores. Santhosh, in his suicide note, alleged that former Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister KS Eshwarappa demanded a bribe of 40% from him to clear the project. Ahead of his death, Santhosh sent a message to his friend allegedly naming Eshwarappa as the "sole reason" for his suicide. The contractors have been alleging that ministers, MLAs and officials have been asking for 40% of a project’s cost as a bribe after BJP came to power in 2019. They also alleged that more than Rs 22,000 crore is to be released to contractors from various government departments, including Public Works, Irrigation and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).