Bengaluru: Justice Narayanappa Ananda, a retired judge of the High Court, was sworn in as Upalokayukta on Wednesday by Governor Vajubhai Vala after administering oath of office, at Raj Bhavan.
Later speaking to reporters, Justice Ananda said that public interest will be the priority and complaints will be dealt strictly per law.
He said that after going through the Lokayukta Act, he would decide on action to be taken on pending cases.
However, he said that he would not be taking up cases pending before the Lokayukta as it would mean overstepping the jurisdiction, but cases pending before the Upalokayukta would be dealt appropriately.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Law Minister T B Jayachandra, Home Minister G Parameshwara and other ministers were present at the ceremony. High Court judges A N Venugopala Gowda, B Veerappa, Ashok B Hinchigeri, L Narayanaswamy and B Srinivas Gowda were also present at the event.
Justice Ananda was born at Vemgal, Kolar district, in May 1953. In 1977, he began practising as an advocate at the district and other courts in Kolar. He worked as an Additional Public Prosecutor at the First Additional Sessions Court in Bengaluru between 1987 and 1989. He also served as a Principal District and Sessions Judge in Hassan, Chitradurga and Mangaluru.
He was appointed Registrar Judicial and also worked as Registrar General, High Court of Karnataka, from 2003 till he was appointed an additional judge of the High Court in January 2006. He retired in April 2015.
