The State government on Thursday decided to appoint retired judge P.N. Desai as chairperson of the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission.

A former judge of Karnataka High Court, Mr. Desai probed the alleged land scam in Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) in which the name of Parvathi Siddaramaiah, wife of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, had figured. The final report cleared the Chief Minister’s family of any wrongdoing.

A panel comprising Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Chairman of the Legislative Council Basavaraj Horatti, Speaker U.T. Khader, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly R. Ashok, and Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy cleared Mr. Desai’s name for the post.

52 cases to be withdrawn

The State government on Thursday decided to withdraw 52 criminal cases, including 10 cases against Vatal Nagaraj at the Halasuru Gate police station in Bengaluru.

Among other cases to be withdrawn are those filed against protesters participating in Cauvery protest, pro-Kannada protest, Kalasa Banduri protest, besides cases filed against farmers and Dalit activists.

The government has decided to withdraw seven cases pertaining to trouble around Ladle Musthaq Dargah issue in Aland. Some of these cases are to be decided in Karnataka High Court.

Locked houses

Meanwhile, as the preparatory work is under way for the Census, a total of 48,275 houses have been found locked by enumerators. They also found 19.26 lakh houses that are lying vacant across the State.

The State Cabinet received a report and held discussions, sources said. The highest number of locked houses was found in Bengaluru Urban with 14,000, and the number of vacant houses was also highest in Bengaluru Urban with 2.45 lakh. The figures were up to May 16.