A view of the High Court of Karnataka.
| Photo Credit: File photo
The High Court of Karnataka on Friday (July 10) stayed a resolution passed by the members of the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) calling upon chairperson Shivashankarappa S. Sahukar to resign from his post by taking moral responsibility on the issue of his daughter submitting a caste certificate declaring “false” family income while applying for recruitment to the post of Industrial Extension Officer, a Group ‘C’ post.Justice Suraj Govindaraj passed the interim order on a petition filed by Mr. Sahukar, who had questioned the powers of the members to pass a resolution against him, besides letters written to the Chief Secretary and to the Governor on July 6 and 7, respectively, by KPSC’s secretary, intimating them on the resolution passed against the chairman.The court has also stayed operation of the two letters.June 19 meetingThe resolution was passed on June 19 in KPSC’s meeting, which was headed by senior-most member B. Prabhudev as Mr. Sahukar had recused from chairing the meeting due to a conflict of interest — one of the agendas was related to his daughter Suma S. Sahukar’s caste and income certificate.In the resolution, the members had emphasised on the conduct of an “impartial inquiry” into her caste-cum-income certificate, issued in 2020, while claiming that she would not have made the “false” declaration of family income without the knowledge of her father. The family income was declared as ₹40,000 annually in the certificate.While authorising the KPSC secretary to send the resolution and a report to the State government on the issue of income certificate of the chairman’s daughter, the members had also resolved to conduct the recruitment process under the leadership of the senior-most member without the involvement of Mr. Sahukar.The resolution also noted that another daughter of Mr. Sahukar, Anuradha S.S, who is married, was also selected for the same post in the provisional selection list under the GM category. In the letter, the KPSC secretary has pointed out that Mr. Sahukar was appointed as a member of KPSC in September 2019 and his monthly basic salary was ₹2.05 lakh per month plus allowance. He was appointed as chairman in April 2021 and since then, he has been drawing a basic salary of ₹2.25 lakh per month plus allowances.In his petition, Mr. Sahukar had said that Ms. Suma had not claimed reservation under low income category but the certificate was presented to claim 3B caste category and incidentally, it contained family income. He also pointed out that she has subsequently withdrawn her application for the post.‘Members have no power...’Appearing for Mr. Sahukar, senior advocate Aruna Shyam M. contended that members had no power to include an additional agenda in the meeting to discuss Mr. Sahukar’s role in his daughter’s income certificate without the approval of the chairman. The KPSC (Conduct of Business and Additional Functions) Act, 1959, does not confer any power on the members to do so, it has been contended.Moreover, it has been argued that the members had no power to seek his resignation, as action against the chairman or the members of the Public Service Commissions can be taken only by following the procedure prescribed under Article 317 of the Constitution of India. Published - July 10, 2026 07:59 pm IST
