source: The Hindu June 23, 2005

HYDERABAD: The Minister for Sports and Culture, M. Satyanarayana Rao, said here on Wednesday that none of the guilty in the endowments land scam should be spared and that he recommended that the culprits should be hanged. "Even if there is no provision for this in the law, we should amend it for this purpose," said a visibly agitated former Endowments Minister.

Speaking to media after his first visit to the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh in the afternoon, the Minister said it was tragic that there should be corruption even in such a department, set up with lofty ideals, on such a large scale. "The scam definitely lowered the image of the entire department in the eyes of the common man. It is really painful," he remarked.

`Dangerous section'

The Minister said it was time to scrap Section 89 of the Endowments Act which he felt gave sweeping powers to the Commissioner. "It authorised him with unfettered powers and some of his orders do not even come to the Endowments Minister," Mr.Rao observed. "This is a dangerous section and should be deleted," he insisted.

Mr. Rao said he had personally recommended to the Chief Minister, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, abolition of the Endowments Department itself in the wake of the scandal for the law arms even a middle-level officer with such powers that even they could wreak havoc.

However, he insisted that not an inch of the Government land had gone into the hands of unwanted elements.

The Minister, in reply to a query, said he would seek a major portfolio if he came out clean in the judicial enquiry.