Bellary: Responding to an order issued by Chief Min ister Siddaramaiah to track down bureaucrats responsible for illegal mining in the state, the mines and geology department has submitted a 23-page action-taken report to the Chief Minister's Office, holding 51 officers of the department including four senior IAS officers, responsible. Siddaramaiah iss ued the orders on Sept ember 21 asking the departments to submit a report on the action taken against officials, named in the two reports on illegal mining by the Lokayukta. The reports submitted by the mines department states that senior IAS officers M.E. Shiv a l i n gamurthy, Ganga ram Baderia, K.S. Prabhakar and Dr M. Basappa Reddy, who had served as directors of Mines and Geology dep a rtment during 2004 and 2010, had already been chargesheeted. The dep a rtment has sought the direction of the Department of Person nel and Administrative Reforms to take suitable action against them. Shivalingamurthy is currently in judicial custody following investigation by the CBI into alleged illegal mining by Gali Janardhan Reddy-owned Assoc iated Min ing Company. Prab hakar was named in the Lokayukta report for sanctioning mining leases to Sparkline Mining Corporation.
