HC grants bail to H N Krishna

BANGALORE: The High Court on Thursday granted conditional bail to former chairman of Karnataka Pubic Service Commission (KPSC) Dr H N Krishna who was in judicial custody from October 7 over charges of irregularities and malpractice in appointments of gazetted probationers in his tenure during 1998, 1999 and 2004.Granting bail, Justice H Billappa observed this is a bailable offence and that precedent exists in the form of a Supreme Court judgement that the accused should not be in jail for longer time.  “Here, we see that some unknown hands were involved in the case, hence the petitioner is entitled to bail,” he said.Krishna’s counsel C H Hanumanthraya said during that his client had committed no  irregularities while in office and that the decisions taken then were collective in nature. Denying the charges of a candidate Allah Baksh, who had complained that his signature was taken forcibly to deprive him from being selected despite scoring high marks, he suspected that this was a conspiracy to malign him.  He questioned why Allah Baksh did not lodge a complaint against Krishna when the incident took place. On some candidates submitting false certificates, he denied Krishna’s involvement in it. The court has imposed several conditions on Krishna, which include producing a personal bond of  Rs 2 lakh along with two sureties andnot contacting any of the witnesses or tamper evidence.  He has been directed to not leave the country without the prior notice of the court.