A bench of Karnataka High Court today directed the State Government to reply in three weeks about its decision to entrust land scam and corruption charges enquiry to Justice Padmaraj Commission. The Bench comprising of Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice A S Bopanna gave the order and restrained the Padmaraj Commission from recording evidence and issuing orders for a period of four weeks. The Additional Advocate General K N Natraj today expressed Government’s preference to entrust the inquiry to Justice Padmaraj Commission. The Government was asked by the Court yesterday as to which Investigating Agency does the Government prefer- the Lokayuktha or the Judicial Commission headed by Justice Padmaraj to probe land scam and corruption charges during the present and previous Governments in the State. Y S V Datta of JD(S) had sought the Court’s intervention to direct the State Government to allow Lokayuktha to probe the charges. The petitioners argue that since the Lokayuktha had received complaints first, it should have been consulted by the government before handing over the case to Judicial Commission, which they say has no prosecution powers.