Bengaluru: The Karnataka government on Friday declared the SIT probing the alleged KPSC recruitment scam a police station, with jurisdiction across the state.

The two cases relate to the appointment of sacked KPSC Chairman Shivashankarappa S Sahukar's daughters as Industrial Officers and large-scale irregularities in the recruitment of veterinary doctors.

The notification follows the Karnataka High Court's October 28 direction to the state government to operationalise the SIT and facilitate the transfer of investigation records from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

"The Special Investigation Team (SIT) ... is hereby declared a Police Station under Section 2(1)(u) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, with jurisdiction extending to the entire State of Karnataka," the government order said.

The SIT was constituted on the High Court's September 21 directions to investigate cases registered at Vidhana Soudha Police Station in Bengaluru.

On October 28, Justice M Nagaprasanna had pulled up the government for failing to operationalise the SIT despite the Supreme Court upholding the decision to have a special team investigate the alleged recruitment scam.

Justice Nagaprasanna had said there was nothing preventing the government from notifying the SIT as a police station to facilitate the transfer of records from the CID.

"In these cases, you should not show a lackadaisical attitude. You should do it fast," the judge had told Advocate General K Shashi Kiran Shetty.

The government order, dated October 30, also authorises the investigating officers appointed to the SIT to submit police reports before the competent courts under Section 193 of the BNSS.

"The said Special Investigation Team shall investigate the above-mentioned cases and submit its final investigation report to the competent court," the order said.

The High Court had directed the government to serve the proposed names of two replacement members of the SIT on the petitioners and granted them two days to file objections. The composition of the team was to be considered at the subsequent hearing.

The Karnataka Public Service Commission recruitment scam has led to the arrest of the sacked KPSC Chairman Shivashankarappa S Sahukar, its member B V Geetha, former examination controller Gyanendra Kumar Gangwar and alleged middleman Basavaraj Kannale.

The Enforcement Directorate is also investigating the case.