Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde on Wednesday strongly pitched for elected representatives being divested with the powers of transferring officials to stem corruption and ensure change in their attitude.

’’Take away power of transfer from elected representatives and you will find a tremendous change in attitude’’, he said, addressing members of Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI).

He said he had suggested to the Second Administrative Reforms Commission that the bureaucracy decide on transfers, with the Chief Secretary, secretary of the concerned department and a senior secretary being involved in it. In case of any grievance, the aggrieved official could approach the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal or the central Tribunal.

He said subservience to political bosses for whatever reasons cannot be tolerated. "Do not yield to the demand of politicians," he said.

Coming down on judicial irregularities, he said though discrepancies had been detected earlier, "nobody wanted to confront it openly and often brushed it under the carpet. But today the carpet has burst. We are now seeing scandals and scams in the judiciary", he said.

Earlier there was a perception "that if the two wings of the democratic system failed, the judiciary would save us" but this no longer held true, he said.

He said corruption had not spared even the media with the recent expose on "paid news" in a leading magazine being an example of it. "I hope they will set themselves back on the right track", he said.

"The biggest culprit is society which accepts corruption in a matter-of-fact manner. We cannot abolish corruption totally but can contain it in a way so that it does not harm society", he said.

His advice to FKCCI members who wanted to help stem corruption was not to offer a bribe to those who demand it.