To,
Shri. Dr.Sindhe Bhimsen Rao . H ,
RTI APPELLATE AUTHORITY & CPIO ,
Additional Secretary to Chief Minister ,
Room No 236 , 2nd Floor ,
Vidhana Soudha , Bangalore – 560001.
APPEAL UNDER SEC 19 (3) OF RTI ACT 2005 OF GOVERNMENT OF INDIA & GOVERNMENT OF KARNATAKA
FULL NAME OF THE APPLICANT : NAGARAJA.M.R.
ADDRESS OF THE APPLICANT : NAGARAJA.M.R.,
EDITOR , SOS E-VOICE JUSTICE & SOS E-CLARION OF DALIT ,
# LIG-2 / 761, OPP WATER WORKS OFFICE,
HUDCO FIRST STAGE, LAXMIKANTANAGAR,
HEBBAL, MYSORE , KARNATAKA PIN – 570017.
Please go through the some of actual criminal cases of land grabbings enclosed herewith.
"Power will go to the hands of rascals, , rogues and freebooters. All Indian leaders will be of low calibre and men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight among themselves for power and will be lost in political squabbles . A day would come when even air & water will be taxed." Sir Winston made this statement in the House of Commons just before the independence of India & Pakistan. Sadly , the forewarning of Late Winston Churchill has been proved right by some of our criminal , corrupt people’s representatives , police , public servants & Judges. Some of the below mentioned officials fall among the category of churchill’s men – Rogues , Rascals & Freebooters. To my previous RTI requests & appeals they tried covering – up crores worth SCAM by transferring application from one to the other at the end by denying information to me, Does not the Revenue department possess information ?
We salute honest few in public service , our whole hearted respects to them. HEREBY , I DO HUMBLY REQUEST YOU TO GIVE ME WRITTEN STATEMENTS / ANSWERS TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS – WHICH IN ITSELF ( ie answers ) ARE THE INFORMATION SOUGHT BY ME. HERE WITH I AM SEEKING NOT THE OPINIONS ABOUT SOME HYPOTHETICAL ISSUES , BUT YOUR OFFICIAL STAND , LEGAL STAND ON ISSUES WHICH ARE OF FREQUENT OCCURRENCE WHICH ARE VIOLATING PEOPLE’S FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS & HUMAN RIGHTS. WE DO HAVE HIGHEST RESPECTS FOR JUDICIARY & ALL PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS , THIS IS AN APPEAL FOR TRUTH , INFORMATION SO THAT TO APPREHEND CORRUPT FEW IN PUBLIC SERVICE, WHO ARE AIDING & ABETTING TERRORISM , UNDERWORLD & CRIMINALS. I HAVE SHOWN IN DETAIL WITH LIVE , ACTUAL CASES , EXAMPLES , HOW INDIAN LEGAL SYSTEM IS MANIPULATED BY CRIMINALS WITHIN JUDICIARY , POLICE , PROSECUTION , ETC. READ DETAILS AT :
Main A :
1. The land encroachments & illegal buildings and it’s continued existence since years is not possible without tacit , covert support of jurisdictional revenue officials. What disciplinary action has been taken against concerned officials with respect to each case of land encroachment & illegal buildings , case wise ?
2. If not , why ?
3. Is not “land AKRAMA SAKRAMA SCHEME” itself illegal ?
4. Is not the move of government of Karnataka to legalise land encroachments & illegal buildings , in itself illegal ?
5. Till date in some cases of land encroachers are evicted & some buildings violating building byelaws demolished , you could have spared them to enjoy the benefit of land akrama sakrama scheme. Why you didn’t spare them ?
6. Is this scheme applicable for only chosen few ?
7. Does this scheme also benefit rich people above BPL ?
8. Does this scheme also benefit big land developers , land developing companies ?
9. To my previous RTI appeals to MUDA , BDA only partial information was given , conveniently hiding the truth. Is it not violation of RTI act ?
10. Does not hiding information about land crimes , in itself also a crime ?
11. I have shown in detail some land crimes in Karnataka. What action by government of Karnataka , casewise ?
14. Does not hiding a land crime , embolden land grabber to commit more land crimes ?
15. What action taken against BDA , MUDA & Revenue department officials who are covering crores worth land scams inspite of my repeated appeals & RTI Requests ?
Main B : RTI QUESTIONS Mysore DC , COMMISSIONER OF MUDA ( MYSORE URBAN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY ) & COMMISSIONER OF MCC ( MYSORE CITY CORPORATION ) ARE AFRAID TO ANSWER
1. how many times since 1987 , MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT has revised / modified the mysore city's comprehensive city development plan ?
2. how many cases of CDP violations were registered by MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT since 1987 till date ?
3. how many cases of CDP violations were legalized in the CDP revision / modification by the authorities ?
4. when an application for alienation of land is made to you , say from civic amenity site to commercial , what norms are followed by MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT ?
5. how do you provide alternate civic amenity site in the locality , if the area is already full ? do you deprive people of civic amenities ?
6. during such alenation , is the MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT collecting market rate difference between civic amenity site & commercial site ? if not why ?
7. in mysore city , many building complexes , buildings have been built fully violating building bye-laws – no set off , no parking space , no emergency fire exit , no earthquake tolerant . what action by MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT ?
8. how many cases of building bye-laws violations has been registered by MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT since 1987 ? what is the action status report yearwise ?
9. how much of MUDA's / MCC's / GOVERNMENT's lands , sites , buildings & houses have been illegally occupied by criminal tresspassers since 1987 ?
10. has the MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT registered criminal cases against each such illegal occupation ? if not why ? provide status report yearwise ?
11. in how many cases of such illegal occupation MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT has legalized , regularized such illegal occupation just through MUDA's / MCC's resolution instead of of reallotting the same through public notification to the next senior most in the waiting list , after giving notice of allotment cancellation to original allottee ? if not done so why ?
12. has the MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT followed all legal norms in reallotment of lands , sites , houses , etc to the illegal occupiers ? what is the procedure followed ?
13. in mysore city , numerous housing societies & real estate Developers have mushroomed , Land allotments of how many housing societies , real estate firms among them are legally authorized by MUDA , MCC , GOVERNMENT & how many not ? since 1987 till date ?
14. has the MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT filed criminal complaints against such illegal housing societies & illegal real estate firms ? if not why ?
15. what action MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT has initiated against real estate firms & housing societies who have violated MUDA norms , layout plans , etc ? if not why ?
16. the government has framed building bye-laws like width of road , space for civic amenities , parking space , emergency fire exit , etc keeping high in the mind safety of people first. MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT is in the practice of levying a pittance as penalty on the building byelaw violators , layout Development plan violators & legalizing those
violations. Safety of public & amenities of public are totally neglected by MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT . When public people die , suffer injuries / accidents – say during a fire tragedy in a complex due to lack of fire exit , when people park vehicles on pavement in front of a business complex as the complex doesn't have a parking space of it's own , the pedestrians going that way are forced to come down on road resulting in accidents , injuries & deaths . is not the MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT responsible for those accidents , injuries & deaths ?
17. what is the criteria adopted by MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT for out of Turn allotment of Lands , sites , houses to renowned sports persons , judges , journalists , politicians , artists , etc ?
18. how many judges , artists , politicians , journalists , sports persons , etc have benefited from these out of turn allotments by MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT ? specific figures yearwise since 1987 ?
19. what action has been taken against developers , housing societies , who have violated MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT norms ?
20. when poor scheduled caste , scheduled tribe people , minority people illegally live On MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT sites building temporary huts , MUDA / AUTHORITIES with the help of police razes down those huts & evicts the poor by brute force. Whereas , when cronies of political bigwigs illegally occupy MUDA , MCC / GOVERNMENT lands worth crores of rupees & build big complexes earning thousands of rupees monthly rent , MUDA or authorities not even files police complaint against them instead regularizes the illegal occupation by levying a pittance as fine. Why this double standard by MUDA / MCC GOVERNMENT ?
21. HOW MANY CASES OF ILLEGAL OCCUPATIONS are regularized by MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT since 1987 till date ? yearwise figures ?
22. how much of MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT lands , sites , houses are under illegal occupation ? status report yearwise since 1987 ?
23. how much of those has been recovered ? has the MUDA ,AUTHORITIES recovered the rents earned by illegal occupation ?
24. have you filed police complaints against those criminals – tresspassers ? if not why ?
25. is the MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT giving wide publicity & sufficient time to bidders about it's auction schedules ?
26. is the MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT giving market value to land loosers ?
27. is the MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT exactly using the acquired lands , for the same purpose mentioned in the project plan ?
28. is the MUDA / AUTHORITIES acquiring lands at lower rates from farmers & selling it at a premium , by way making profits just like a real estate agency ?
29. in villages , there are cattle grazing grounds meant for the usage of whole villagers, forest for the usage of whole village , lands belonging to village temples. Some villagers have donated their personal lands to village temples , cattle grazing for the benefit of whole villagers. All the villagers are stake holders , owners of such lands. When MUDA / MCC /
GOVERNMENT acquires such lands to whom does it pay compensation ? what about welfare objectives of those lands ?
30. till date , how many lakes , ponds , how many feeder canals have been closed , filled with mud , developed , sold as sites , etc by MUDA MCC or other land developers ?
31. has the MUDA , MCC taken alternate steps to create new lakes , ponds ? how many are created till date ?
32. in & around mysore city , high tension electric lines are there in busy residential areas . as per Indian electricity act , no permanent structures should be under the HT lines. However there are buildings under it. In some places , HT lines runs in the middle of the road. The authorities Have developed those areas beneath HT lines as parks , rented out
advertisement spaces & built permanent fencing of those areas spending lakhs of taxpayer's money. This fencing obstructs the movement of service personnel of electricity board , to service HT line. Are all these structures under
& surrounding HT lines legal ?
33. till date how many burial grounds are acquired & sold as sites by MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT or other developers ? specific figures yearwise since 1987 castewise , religionwise ?
34. in & around mysore city , in how many areas developed by MUDA & private developers , the sewage water generated in those areas is directly let into lake , ponds ?
35. how many tributaries , lakes , ponds are killed in this fashion by MUDA , MCC & other developers , housing societies ?
36. how many business complexes , flats , residential layouts developed by private real estate developers , housing societies are dumping the sewage , / waste generated in their buildings , into unauthorized dumping grounds , lakes , etc . thus disturbing the environment & creating public health hazard ? how the MUDA / MCC is monitoring sewage / waste disposal ? status report yearwise since 1987 till date .
37. how many unauthorized housing layouts are there in & around mysore city ? what action by MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT against them ? action taken report yearwise since 1987 till date .
38. around mysore city , vast areas of village farm lands , agricultural lands are acquired by private real estate developers for non agricultural purposes by a single firm or single owner. Are these actions legal ? some of these real estate agents have sold those lands to private industries , multinational companies for crores of rupees. Has the MUDA / MCC /
GOVERNMENT given alienation of land ie conversion from agricultural to industrial usage. Has KIADB given consent to it ?
39. can a single individual / firm can purchase such vast tracts of agricultural lands , is it legal ? is it within the KIADB's
comprehensive industrial area development plan ?
40. has the MUDA / MCC , KIADB given wide publicity , public notice calling for objections before alienation of such lands ?
41. are all those alienations , strictly in conformance to MUDA's / MCC's CDP & KIADB's industrial area development plan ? violations how many ?
42. is the MUDA & KIADB revising / modifying CDP & INDUSTRIAL AREA DEVELOPMENT PLAN , to suit those real estate developers & Private companies ? on what legal grounds ?
43.what action has been taken based on mysore district magistrate mr.T.M.Vijaya Bhaskar's report on land grabbings in mysore ?
44.in mysore city , hebbal-hootagalli industrial area , a lake has been destroyed while building kaynes hotel , hinkal lake is shrinking , lake in front of BEML Quarters has been alloted to M/S THRILLER CLOTHING CO, are all these actions legal & in conformance to MUDA's CDP ? if not why ? what action ?
45. while auctioning off the lands of sick industrial unit M/S IDEAL JAWA LTD , was there any pre-qualification to bidders that after purchase of lands only it must be used for industrial use or only industries can participate in the bidding process ?
46.why not it has been clearly mentioned in the tender document that , said land is open for alienation ?
47. about this issue , our publication has even raised it's objections , in it's newspaper . no action , why ? as a result , the government , banks , employees were cheated off their dues & the private firm made huge profits. is this auction & alienation legal ?
48.numerous NGO's , trusts promoted by religious bodies , mutts are allotted prime lands at preferrential rates , for the reason that they will use it for public / social welfare. however many of the trusts are using the whole or part of the land for commercial purposes other than the stated public / social welfare purpose. what action has been taken by MUDA , MCC or government in such cases ?
49.how many trusts have violated government norms in this way since 1987 till date? what action taken by MUDA , MCC & government action taken report yearwise since 1987 till date ?
50.how many such illegalities / violations by trusts are regularized by MUDA , MCC or authorities , on what legal grounds ? ATR since 1987 till date ?
51.before regularizing such violations have you sought public objections & given media publicity ? if not why ?
52.how you are monitoring the net wealth growth of some MUDA / MCC / REVENUE officials & their family members , who have land acquisition / denotifying , land usage conversion authorities ?
53.how many trusts , NGOs are allotted prime residential / commercial lands by MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT on lease basis , in turn the said trusts , NGOs have sulet it either partly or wholly to others ?
54.how many such lease allotments are sold by MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT before the expiry of lease period , without public auction ?
55. what are the norms followed by MUDA / MCC / GOVERNMENT for the sale of leased lands to the lessee before the expiry of lease period ?
Main C : RTI – QUESTIONS COMMISSIONER OF BANGALORE DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY ( BDA ) , COMMISSIONER , BRIHATH BANGALORE MAHANAGARA PALIKE ( BBMP ) & CHAIRMAN , KARNATAKA INDUSTRIAL AREA DEVELOPMENT BOARD ( KIADB) ARE AFRAID TO ANSWER
1. how many times since 1987 , BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT has revised / modified the Bangalore city's comprehensive city development plan ?
2. how many cases of CDP violations were registered by BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT since 1987 till date ?
3. how many cases of CDP violations were legalized in the CDP revision / modification by the authorities ?
4. when an application for alienation of land is made to you , say from civic amenity site to commercial , what norms are followed by BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT?
5. how do you provide alternate civic amenity site in the locality , if the area is already full ? do you deprive people of civic amenities ?
6. during such alenation , is the BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT collecting market rate difference between civic amenity site & commercial site ? if not why ?
7. in bangalore city , many building complexes , buildings have been built fully violating building bye-laws – no set off , no parking space , no emergency fire exit , no earthquake tolerant . what action by BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT?
8. how many cases of building bye-laws violations has been registered by BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT since 1987 ? what is the action status report yearwise ?
9. how much of BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT lands , sites , buildings & houses have been illegally occupied by criminal tresspassers since 1987 ?
10. has the BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT registered criminal cases against each such illegal occupation ? if not why ? provide status report yearwise ?
11. in how many cases of such illegal occupation BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT has legalized , regularized such illegal occupation just through BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT ` s resolution instead of of re-allotting the same through public notification to the next senior most in the waiting list , after giving notice of allotment cancellation to original allottee ? if not done so why ?
12. has the BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT followed all legal norms in reallotment of lands , sites , houses , etc to the illegal occupiers ? what is the procedure followed ?
13. in bangalore city , numerous housing societies & real estate Developers have mushroomed , Land allotments of how many housing societies , real estate firms among them are legally authorized by BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT & how many not ? since 1987 till date ?
14. has the BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT filed criminal complaints against such illegal housing societies & illegal real estate firms ? if not why ?
15. what action BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT has initiated against real estate firms & housing societies who have violated BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT norms , layout plans , etc ? if not why ?
16. the government has framed building bye-laws like width of road , space for civic amenities , parking space , emergency fire exit , etc keeping high in the mind safety of people first. BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT is in the practice of levying a pittance as penalty on the building byelaw violators , layout Development plan violators & legalizing those violations. Safety of public & amenities of public are totally neglected by BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT. When public people die , suffer injuries / accidents – say during a fire tragedy in a complex due to lack of fire exit , when people park vehicles on pavement in front of a business complex as the complex doesn't have a parking space of it's own , the pedestrians going that way are forced to come down on road resulting in accidents , injuries & deaths . is not the BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT responsible for those accidents , injuries & deaths ?
17. what is the criteria adopted by BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT for out of Turn allotment of Lands , sites , houses to renowned sports persons , judges , journalists , politicians , artists , etc ?
18. how many judges , artists , politicians , journalists , sports persons , etc have benefited from these out of turn allotments by BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT? specific figures yearwise since 1987 ?
19. what action has been taken against developers , housing societies , who have violated BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT norms ?
20. when poor scheduled caste , scheduled tribe people , minority people illegally live On BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT sites building temporary huts , BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT with the help of police razes down those huts & evicts the poor by brute force. Whereas , when cronies of political bigwigs illegally occupy BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT lands worth crores of rupees & build big complexes earning thousands of rupees monthly rent , BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT or authorities not even files police complaint against them instead regularizes the illegal occupation by levying a pittance as fine. Why this double standard by BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT?
21. HOW MANY CASES OF ILLEGAL OCCUPATIONS are regularized by BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT since 1987 till date ? yearwise figures ?
22. how much of BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT lands , sites , houses are under illegal occupation ? status report yearwise since 1987 ?
23. how much of those has been recovered ? has the BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT arecovered the rents earned by illegal occupation ?
24. have you filed police complaints against those criminals – tresspassers ? if not why ?
25. is the BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT giving wide publicity & sufficient time to bidders about it's auction schedules ?
26. is the BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT giving market value to land loosers ?
27. is the BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT exactly using the acquired lands , for the same purpose mentioned in the project plan ?
28. is the BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT acquiring lands at lower rates from farmers & selling it at a premium , by way making profits just like a real estate agency ?
29. in villages , there are cattle grazing grounds meant for the usage of whole villagers, forest for the usage of whole village , lands belonging to village temples. Some villagers have donated their personal lands to village temples , cattle grazing for the benefit of whole villagers. All the villagers are stake holders , owners of such lands. When BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT acquires such lands to whom does it pay compensation ? what about welfare objectives of those lands ?
30. till date , how many lakes , ponds , how many feeder canals have been closed , filled with mud , developed , sold as sites , etc by BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT or other land developers ?
31. has the BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT taken alternate steps to create new lakes , ponds ? how many are created till date ?
32. in & around bangalore city , high tension electric lines are there in busy residential areas . as per Indian electricity act , no permanent structures should be under the HT lines. However there are buildings under it. In some places , HT lines runs in the middle of the road. The authorities Have developed those areas beneath HT lines as parks , rented out advertisement spaces & built permanent fencing of those areas spending lakhs of taxpayer's money. This fencing obstructs the movement of service personnel of electricity board , to service HT line. Are all these structures under & surrounding HT lines legal ?
33. till date how many burial grounds are acquired & sold as sites by BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT or other developers ? specific figures yearwise since 1987 castewise , religionwise ?
34. in & around bangalore city , in how many areas developed by BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT & private developers , the sewage water generated in those areas is directly let into lake , ponds ?
35. how many tributaries , lakes , ponds are killed in this fashion by BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT & other developers , housing societies ?
36. how many business complexes , flats , residential layouts developed by private real estate developers , housing societies are dumping the sewage , / waste generated in their buildings , into unauthorized dumping grounds , lakes , etc . thus disturbing the environment & creating public health hazard ? how the BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT is monitoring sewage / waste disposal ? status report yearwise since 1987 till date .
37. how many unauthorized housing layouts are there in & around bangalore city ? what action by BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT against them ? action taken report yearwise since 1987 till date .
38. around bangalore city , vast areas of village farm lands , agricultural lands are acquired by private real estate developers for non agricultural purposes by a single firm or single owner. Are these actions legal ? some of these real estate agents have sold those lands to private industries , multinational companies for crores of rupees. Has the BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT given alienation of land ie conversion from agricultural to industrial usage. Has KIADB given consent to it ?
39. can a single individual / firm can purchase such vast tracts of agricultural lands , is it legal ? is it within the KIADB's comprehensive industrial area development plan ?
40. has the BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT given wide publicity , public notice calling for objections before alienation of such lands ?
41. are all those alienations , strictly in conformance to BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT's industrial area development plan ? violations how many ?
42. is the BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT revising / modifying CDP & INDUSTRIAL AREA DEVELOPMENT PLAN , to suit those real estate developers & Private companies ? on what legal grounds ?
43.what action has been taken based on mysore district magistrate mr.T.M.Vijaya Bhaskar's report on land grabbings in mysore ?
44.in mysore city , hebbal-hootagalli industrial area , a lake has been destroyed while building kaynes hotel , hinkal lake is shrinking , lake in front of BEML Quarters has been alloted to M/S THRILLER CLOTHING CO, are all these actions legal & in conformance to MUDA's CDP ? if not why ? what action ?
45. while auctioning off the lands of sick industrial unit M/S IDEAL JAWA LTD , was there any pre-qualification to bidders that after purchase of lands only it must be used for industrial use or only industries can participate in the bidding process ?
46.why not it has been clearly mentioned in the tender document that , said land is open for alienation ?
47. about this issue , our publication has even raised it's objections , in it's newspaper . no action , why ? as a result , the government , banks , employees were cheated off their dues & the private firm made huge profits. is this auction & alienation legal ?
48.numerous NGO's , trusts promoted by religious bodies , mutts are allotted prime lands at preferrential rates , for the reason that they will use it for public / social welfare. however many of the trusts are using the whole or part of the land for commercial purposes other than the stated public / social welfare purpose. what action has been taken by BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT in such cases ?
49.how many trusts have violated government norms in this way since 1987 till date? what action taken by BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT action taken report yearwise since 1987 till date ?
50.how many such illegalities / violations by trusts are regularized by BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT, on what legal grounds ? ATR since 1987 till date ?
51.before regularizing such violations have you sought public objections & given media publicity ? if not why ?
52.how you are monitoring the net wealth growth of some BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT officials & their family members , who have land acquisition / denotifying , land usage conversion authorities ?
53.how many trusts , NGOs are allotted prime residential / commercial lands by BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT on lease basis , in turn the said trusts , NGOs have sulet it either partly or wholly to others ?
54.how many such lease allotments are sold by BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT before the expiry of lease period , without public auction ?
55. what are the norms followed by BDA / BBMNP / KIADB / GOVERNMENT for the sale of leased lands to the lessee before the expiry of lease period ?
56. what is the status of house allotted to sri.chandrashekariah vide BDA allotment letter no: 310/267/BDA/ADM/KMRSL(H)/78-79 dt 11/08/1978.
57. why BDA didn't file police complaint to evict encroachers?
58. why BDA didn't inform the descendents of original allottee about the cancellation of their allotment ?
59.what happened to the money deposited by original allottee?
60.is the action of BDA allotting the said house to an illegal encroacher just by the resolution of BDA committee legal ?
61. in case the BDA wished to re-allot the said house , first it must have informed the original allottee about cancellation of allotment allowing them sufficient time to reply with public notice in news papers , then they should have allotted the said house to the senior most in the waiting list. But BDA has just allotted the house to an illegal encroacher by the resolution of BDA committee. Is it legal ?
62. BDA officials gave half truths to my RTI request & stated that the said file concerning this issue cann't be found ie lost . is it legal ?
63. has the BDA filed police complaint regarding theft of file from the record room ? HONOURABLE COMMISSIONER OF BDA PLEASE REFER THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE.
YEAR TO WHICH ABOVE PERTAINS : DOCUMENTS PERTAINS TO YEAR 1995 - 2015 .
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER WHO FAILED TO GIVE INFORMATION :
PIO , CHIEF MINSTER’S OFFICE , GOVERNMENT OF KARNATAKA , VIDHANA SOUDHA , BANGALORE.
FEES PAID : IPO 16G 733464 for Rupees TWENTY only
DATE : 28.03.2015 ……………..………………………NAGARAJA.M.R.
PLACE : MYSORE , INDIA….. ……………………….( APPLICANT)
The Art of Living Illegally
THE ‘GURU of joy’ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has been found guilty of encroaching more than five acres of government land worth Rs 50 crore in Karnataka. The land meant to be distributed to the poor and landless has been illegally acquired by Sri Sri, who has constructed an Art of Living meditation centre on it, violating the law.
Even though the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) wanted to fine ‘Guruji’ and had asked for the demolition of the building, a timely intervention by former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa has saved the Art of Living Foundation from facing legal action.
According to documents obtained by TEHELKA, MUDA had acquired 100 acres at Alanahalli village near Mysore in 1985, ’92 and ’97 for the development of residential colonies for 1.5 lakh landless poor. Out of the 100 acres notified by MUDA, 70 were developed and the rest was denotified and restored to the original owners.
“The land that Sri Sri acquired was left as a buffer zone and not developed as a residential layout as it allowed for the free flow of water from Chamundi Hills to Alanahalli tank. It was supposed to be converted into a botanical park,” says M Lakshmana of the Association of Concerned and Informed Citizens of Mysore.
However, in 2002, the land was acquired by the Art of Living through a proxy by the name of R Raghu, even when the land was in the possession of MUDA. And a building was constructed for conducting yoga and meditation classes.
Taking note of this, on 20 December last year, the then Deputy Commissioner of Mysore Harsh Gupta wrote to MUDA directing it to reclaim the government land from the Art of Living, and sought a response within seven days. Following the order, MUDA wrote to the tehsildar instructing him to serve a notice to Art of Living. The tehsildar’s office did so on 4 January, stating that the building constructed at Alanahalli was illegal and slapped a fine of Rs 1,000 on the organisation as per the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964.
Apart from this penalty, Art of Living was given two days time to demolish the building, failing which the department would clear the encroachment and slap an additional fine of Rs 25 per day.
Shunted out of the deputy commissioner’s post, Gupta, now assistant director of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, says, “During my tenure, a survey was being conducted of the 1,500 acres of government land. And wherever discrepancies were found, notices and orders were issued. During that survey, we found out that the Art of Living had encroached upon five acres of government land.”
Gupta’s orders were not carried out. The same day, a letter from the chief minister’s office signed by Principal Secretary ISN Prasad prevented the deputy commissioner and the taluka administration from carrying out its duties.
The letter instructed the district and taluka administration against demolishing the Art of Living building on survey No. 41/F block (P6) in Alanahalli, saying, “The chief minister will take a decision on it.” However, Yeddyurappa did not bother to take any decision and the Art of Living continued construction activities on the land.
“It was done to stop the precipitate action,” says Prasad. An Art of Living delegation had met Yeddyurappa and he had asked the district administration to refrain from action till a further decision is taken.
“That didn’t happen due to various reasons. But the current Chief Minister DV Sadananda Gowda will call a meeting with all the local officials,” says Prasad.
Responding to the claims, Karthik Krishna of the Art of Living’s bureau of communication says, “Since 2003, we have been working to denotify this land that was falsely notified to extract a bribe, which we fought tooth and nail and were also slapped with a fine.”
The Art of Living has not encroached on any land, he says. The 5-acre plot was purchased by R Raghu from Gangu Belli Belliappa on 25 November 2002. Since then, the premises have been utilised with the permission of the landlord for conducting yoga and meditation classes, says Krishna.
“This is not the first time a case of land-grab has been brought against the Art of Living,” says Lakshmana. In Mandya district, the organisation has been accused of grabbing 20 acres. And a 2006 report on government land encroachments in the state had also found discrepancies in its Bengaluru ashram. In Mysore, apart from the five acres of government land, the Art of Living has encroached around seven acres worth Rs 70 crore near the tourist spot of Chamundi Hills.
V Balasubramaniam, former chairman of Land Task Force, says the AT Ramaswamy Committee report had found that the organisation had encroached upon 6.35 acres of government land in Agara village in Kengeri, Bengaluru. The committee claimed that the land encroached by the Art of Living was worth more than Rs 8 crore.
Lakshmana has filed a criminal complaint against Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Yeddyurappa. “I have also lodged a complaint with the state Human Rights Commission, asking how a high-flying organisation like the Art of Living could obtain a site when poor and landless people are waiting for the past 30 years,” says Lakshmana.
YET ANOTHER MUDA SITE GRABBED
Mysuru, Mar. 26- In yet another case of land grabbing that has now come to light, a 50’x80’ site (No. 5491) in Vijayanagar second stage, adjoining site No. 5490, which was allegedly grabbed by unscrupulous persons using forged documents (reported in SOM on 24.3.2015), too has been reportedly grabbed.
One B. Thimmappa, a resident of 9th main, Saraswathipuram, is alleged to have grabbed site No. 5491 measuring 50’x80’ located near the water tank in Vijayanagar second stage, using forged documents.
The hand of unscrupulous MUDA employees is suspected in this case too.
MUDA Commissioner S. Palaiah, after coming to know of the fraud, has annulled the allotment letter, Sale Deed and other documents pertaining to the site.
B. Thimmappa is said to have taken the site into possession under the Asha Mandira Scheme on 17.2.2003, with unscrupulous MUDA employees allegedly joining hands with him in creating fake documents. Thimmappa later sold the site to K. Kantharaj and S. Vinutha on 13.5.2010, with the khata transfer too done.
Later, Kantharaj and Vinutha sold the site to P. Gopal Rao, M. Ravishankar and Prabhushankar.
Thereafter, the buyers Gopal Rao, Ravishankar and Prabhushankar sold the site to one D. Diwakar, along with khata transfer. Despite all these transactions taking place, the unscrupulous MUDA employees and the fraudsters have taken enough care to ensure that the cheating does not come to light.
However, the fraud came to light when the documents came under thorough scrutiny of MUDA Commissioner.
With the grabbing coming to light, the authorities have erected a shed in a portion of the site.
The grabbing of a site adjacent to another allegedly grabbed site on which a building has come up, has caused concern amongst the public, who are now left wondering on how to distinguish between genuine and fake documents. The MUDA officials are coming across such site grabbing cases, even as they dig deeper into the mess.
Even as MUDA authorities are unearthing site grabbing case, MUDA Commissioner S. Palaiah has appealed the buyers to thoroughly check the documents with MUDA for authenticity.
Meanwhile, Pooja Prabhakar, who claims to be the owner of site No. 5490 in Vijayanagar second stage, which was found to have been grabbed using forged documents, during a scrutiny on Mar. 10, is reportedly all set to drag the MUDA to the Court over the issue.
Pooja Prabhakar is said to have cited a case where in a person is said to have allegedly built an unauthorised commercial structure on an illegally purchased site and thus earning a huge sum of money after letting out the structure on rent/lease.
Save Hebbal Lake Save BEML Quarters Lake in Mysore – An Appeal to Honourable Supreme Court of India
In the past , Mysore Maharaja & other philanthropists have donated their personal lands , properties , built many lakes & ponds in mysore , bangalore and other places with public concern , public wellbeing in their mind . They built these lakes & ponds in addition to preserving the natural lakes & ponds. They knew about the importance of ecological balance & environment. The present rulers , IAS & KAS babus have even failed to preserve the lakes & ponds built decades ago , let alone build one. These Public servants have extended their tacit support to building mafia , to kill these lakes & ponds , to fill those lakes with industrial effluents , sewage & building mud wastes. After killing those lakes & ponds , the building mafia encroaches on it & usurps that public property in turn selling it for crores of rupees.
In this way , Hootagalli lake was killed & encroached by Kaynes Hotel ( now silent shores hotel) , Hebbal Lake is being killed & encroached from all sides by industries and the lake infront of BEML Quarters is being killed & land demarcation for selling those land has already begun.
The public servants were totally indifferent towards public outcry against this . The IAS & KAS babus who are also magistrates with judicial authority have failed in preserving these lakes & ponds inspite of appeals to them. These death of lakes resulting in their encroachments could have been prevented earlier by DC , Tahsildar , MUDA Commissioner & KIADB Officers. Even I have appealed to them through my web news paper , they didn’t take action at all. I have made RTI request to those authorities to give me information regarding status of those lakes years ago , fearing truth will come out they didn’t answer my questions in full , they only gave half truths. When I persisted with my RTI request the Mysore District Magistrate at that time Mr. P.Manivannan repeatedly called me over phone , abused me & threatened me . Even threats were made by some policemen in mufti . Finally that lake land was allotted to a person supposed to be close to the Industries minister at that time. The courts are dispassionate & inhuman , while passing eviction orders against poor people , the police are full of guts & show their full bravery , valour against these poor land encroachers. Fine , let us appreciate their duty consciousness . However rich & well connected criminals have illegally encroached upon public lands , the same courts and police are not taking appropriate action inspite of repeated appeals , why ? Even the Supreme Court of India & Police are Weak & Meek before Land Mafia. Don’t the same Judges & Police have Guts , Bravery , Duty Consciousness & Integrity to take action against such rich land grabbers ? The answer lies in the following articles. Once again we offer our conditional services to Supreme Court of India , to legally apprehend criminals while the respective public servants have failed to do the same.
Hereby , we request the honourable Supreme Court of India ,
1. To initiate criminal prosecution against Mysore district magistrate , Mysore taluk magistrate , MUDA Commissioner , Jurisdictional Police Officers & KIADB Officer , for making contempt of Supreme Court of India Order applying throughout india to preserve lakes & ponds.
2. To evict all encroachers forth with .
3. To immediately stop all flow of industrial effluents & sewage to these lakes & ponds.
4. To initiate criminal prosecution against encroachers of these lakes & pollters , killers of these lakes.
5. To preserve the said lakes & ponds , by recovering cost from encroachers , polluting industries and the co-conspirators Mysore DC , Mysore Tahsildar , MUDA Commissioner , KIADB Officer & Jurisdictional Police Officers.
6. To protect me , my family members & dependents from land mafia & co-conspirators of the crime.
7. To order , to issue Writ of Mandamus to Mysore District Magistrate , MUDA Commissioner & KIADB Officer to disclose all the information sought by me in my RTI request publicly. The copy of my RTI request is reproduced below.
Date : 17.11.2012 Your’s Sincerely,
Place : Mysore Nagaraja.M.R.
Sign to Save Hebbal Lake & BEML Quarters Lake in Mysore
To,
Honourable Chief Justice of India ,
c/o Registrar,
Supreme Court of India,
New Delhi.
Honourable sir ,
Subject : - PIL Appeal To Honorable Supreme court of India For Writ of Mandamus
LITMUS TEST for HONESTY of SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
AKRAMA SAKRAMA / REGULARISATION OF ILLEGAL LAND ENCROACHMENTS ILLEGAL LAND CONSTRUCTIONS BUILDING BYE-LAW VIOLATIONS
KIADB de-notification scandal , BMIC – NICE SCANDAL , MINING SCANDALS and Threats to RTI Applicant
Rich builders , crooks in their greed for more money ( knowing fully well the illegalities ) have constructed buildings on public land , constructed buildings violating the building bye-laws. Now , those crooks are earning lakhs of rupees rental income . The government law enforcement agencies were mum , didn’t demolish such buildings in time , allowing time for crooks to benefit from anticipated regularisation. However the same government agencies have not shown kind consideration to poor people who have constructed temporary hutments on public land . Those hutments were immediately demolished & people evicted.
These building bye-law violators , Land grabbers are not poor people living below poverty line earning only rupees 32 per day as per planning commission of india. These rich crooks don’t deserve sympathy , kind consideration as they have committed the crime knowing fully well the illegalities and they can bear the loss due to the demolition of their illegal buildings. The government must also recover rent & other monetary gains made out of those illegal buildings by the builder.
The recent move of Government of Karnataka to regularize building bye-law violations & Public Land Grabbers amounts to :
1. Rewards for illegalities , crimes if one is rich.
2. Punishes , demotivates honest law abiding citizens.
3. Double standards in law – one set for rich & one set for the poor.
4. Total disregard to safety of people in those illegal buildings .
5. Total disregard to safety of people in the neighbourhood and people using roads passing by those illegal buildings.
Judicial Layout Site Allotment – BRIBE TO JUDGES ?
Is the allotment of residential plots to Judges @ yelahanka Judicial Layout , a mode of paying bribe to judges by the biggest litigant government itself & the corrupt public servants in the government. So that the government can pass illegal laws like “Regularization of Illegal Buildings” , “ Illegal Appointments to Medical colleges in Hassan , Mysore” ,etc & ministers , IAS officers can indulge in illegal unconstitutional acts , but the courts will not take any appropriate action suo motto or based on any petition. IT IS MUTUAL HELP , NEXUS OF TWO CRIMINALS – JUDICIARY & GOVERNMENT. Ofcourse , there are honest few exceptions in judiciary & government. We Respect those honest few.
Just months back , we have witnessed the collapse of a multi storied building in bellary ,Karnataka & we have witnessed a fire tragedy in a multi-storey building in Bangalore, months ago there was collapse of a huge building under construction in Bangalore , all resulting in loss of human lives. Recently we have seen de-notification scam involving VVIPs . All these are the result of violations of Urban Town Planning Laws , Building bye-laws which are observed more in breach by the criminals & conniving public servants . The authorities are behaving like real estate agents of criminals , by-passing norms , framing laws to the tune of criminals . Authorities are not honoring RTI requests & even high ranking IAS officer repeatedly threatens a commoner seeking information under RTI ACT .
Before embarking on land acquisition for any projects government authorities must plan & assess what are the actual requirement of land for that particular project. After finding out the actual requirement of land , they must assess the loss of forest area , cost of compensation pay-out , cost of rehabilitation of people , environmental damages & resultant health damages to people in surrounding areas ,it’s resultant losses when the project gets running , if at all the benefits , profits from that project far outweighs the losses ,then only project should be put before the public for their consent. Ministers & IAS officers must not take these decisions all by themselves in a hush – hush manner.
Even when a project is downsized , from the previously approved size , the land left over , surplus land must be given back to the original owner on first priority . The project managers must not sell those surplus lands to third parties for a premium .
Even when KIADB ,BDA ,MUDA & other authorities acquire lands from farmers ,for constructing industrial parks or residential layouts , etc , has framed comprehensive development plans (CDP) for their respective cities , clearly demarcating land usage pattern . However after acquisition of land , the KIADB , BDA , MUDA , etc are selling those very lands to private third parties for different land usage purposes ,completely violating CDP. Are these KIADB , BDA , BBMP , MUDA ,MCC real estate agents of Rich people ?
Now , consider NICE – BMIC SCANDAL or MINING Scandals , public servants in responsible positions are accusing each other , there by proving that almost all of them are criminals. In democracy , ministers & IAS officers are public servants , MLAs , MPs are not leaders just public servants - representative of people. They must represent people’s wishes & must order the IAS & other officers to fulfil the wishes of people as per legal provisions.
Information input forms part of process of one's expression. One's expression in any forms – written , oral , etc becomes information input to the opposite person , in turn he expresses his reply. Information & Expression are inseparable parts & form lifeline of a democracy. That is the reason , Right to Expression is the basic fundamental right as well as human right of every Indian citizen. When a person's right to expression is violated , his other rights to equality , justice , etc also are violated. Suppression of Information amounts to curbing of Expression.
In a democracy , people have a right to know how the public servants are functioning. However till date public servants are hiding behind the veil of Officials Secrets Act (which is of british vintage created by british to suppress native indians). By this cover-up public servants are hiding their own corruption , crimes , mismanagement , failures , etc. even RTI Act is not being followed intoto by public servants. However the recent delhi high court ruling affirming that CJI is under RTI purview & bound to answer RTI request , is noteworthy.
Our previous RTI request to CJI , union home secretary of GOI, President of India , DG & IGP of GOK and others were not honored. The information I sought were answers to the following questions mentioned in the below mentioned websites . the questions concerned the past , present continuing injustices meted out to millions of Indian citizens , due to wrong / illegal work practices of Indian judges , police & public servants . The information we sought would expose the traitors , anti-nationals , criminals in public service. The information we are seeking are no defense secrets , no national secrets. The truthful information exposes the anti-nationals , traitors in the public service & strengthens our national security , national unity & integrity.
Hereby , I do request the honorable supreme court of India to consider this as a PIL for : "writ of Mandamus" and to issue instructions to the concerned public servants in the following cases to perform their duties & to answer the following Cross - Examination / RTI questions.
Jai Hind. Vande Mataram.
Date : 06.09.2013 Your’s sincerely,
Place : Mysore Nagaraja .M.R.
Bangalore Rural DC Aiyappa, three revenue officials held
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BANGALORE: Lokayukta police have arrested Bangalore Rural district deputy commissioner MK Aiyappa, a special tahsildar, a revenue inspector and a sub-registrar for allegedly changing records pertaining to 32 acres of land in Survey No. 62 of Madappanahalli, near Yelahanka.
Lokayukta additional director general of police HNS Rao said they registered a case against 15 persons, including IAS officer Aiyappa (then Bangalore Urban deputy commissioner), special tahsildar (Bangalore North) K Gopalaswamy, revenue inspector N Balakrishnamurthy of Arakere circle, Hesaraghatta, and sub-registrar (Hesaraghatta) KV Ravi Kumar.
The arrested officials were produced in the Lokayukta court, which remanded them to a day in police custody. The Lokayukta court had on November 5 last year ordered that a case be filed under Sections 13 (1)( c), (d), (e) and 13(2) read with Section 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act as well as criminal Sections 406, 409, 420, 426, 463, 468, 471, 474 read with Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy).
The Lokayukta court order followed a private complaint by P Anil Kumar, a resident of Hesaraghatta.
Preliminary investigation revealed the land was gomala land (common property resource used for livestock grazing), but a person named Narasimhaiah claimed ownership of all the 32 acres. Records were created and the land restored to him, but the then revenue inspector restored the title to the government. Even as the legal dispute was pending, the land was purchased by private individuals. The Hesaraghatta sub-registrar registered the land in their names in 2009.
"The present rate for the land is about Rs 60 crore. Bigwigs named in the complaint will be questioned, including the purchasers. Everything is on record, and nobody can deny their responsibility in taking away government land and restoring it to private individuals," a Lokayukta police official privy to the investigation told TOI.
There will be some more arrests, he added, as there's ample documentary evidence and other witness accounts available.
NICE Corridor Questions to CHIEF MINISTER .Mr.Yediyurappa
Illogical land laws fostering mafia, says High Court judge
Acting Chief Justice of High Court of Karnataka, Justice K Sreedhar Rao on Saturday said lack of logic in several laws, including land reforms and acquisition laws, is encouraging land mafia, especially in urban centres.
“The existing Land Acquisition Act is the greatest enemy of the common man. We have only encouraged land mafia through legislation,” he said, while addressing the National Consultation on “Urban Poor and the Law,” organised by National Law School of India University (NLSIU) here.
Justice Rao said laws related to land need an overhaul, to ensure owners of the land get a share of development. “The growth of real estate mafias and skyrocketing property prices hindered average income earners from purchasing property. By creating mega cities, we have done a great damage to the country,” he added.
Justice Rao said various governments have failed to develop district and taluk head quarters as a result of which we are not able to prevent migration to cities. “Bangalore has developed as a cancerous slum. The urban areas are not having the infrastructure or facilities to deal with this massive population inflow,” he said. The judge also pointed out that the zoning laws often allow arbitrary classifications without taking into account the real situations on ground.
P K Mohanty, Additional Secretary, Union Ministry of Housing and Poverty Alleviation, said the proposed law for property rights for urban poor, to ensure spaces for street vendors, was under consideration and it would be soon placed before the Parliament.
A major issue that needs to be addressed is residency rights of urban poor in the context of vulnerabilities that they face. Though several governmental programmes, specially JNNURM were designed for this purpose, there was a lack of sufficient response from the States to avail the funds and use them in time, he said.
BMTF proposes, government disposes
Siddaiah was brought back to BBMP despite request for his suspension for his role in DLF case
Senior IAS officer H. Siddaiah, who returned as Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner for a second stint, has come under the scanner of the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) as a ‘suspect officer’ for his alleged role in the DLF case.
The BMTF, probing the DLF scam that involved illegal widening of a road to facilitate an increase in the floor area ratio (FAR) of an apartment complex, had named Mr. Siddaiah, his predecessor Bharat Lal Meena, besides the former Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) Commissioner Pradeep Singh Kharola among the three IAS officers whose role had surfaced during its investigation “based on oral and documentary evidence”.
BMTF letter
In a letter to Chief Secretary S.V. Ranganath, dated November 29, 2012, the BMTF had sought to place under suspension these three officials, besides 23 others of the BDA and BBMP, to facilitate fair probe.
However, the government chose to ignore the BMTF’s recommendation and brought Mr. Siddaiah back to the BBMP from the Higher Education Department where he was serving as Principal Secretary, thus replacing Commissioner Rajneesh Goel.
The report also names several senior officials of the BBMP and the BDA as “suspect officials” for having allegedly colluded to allow the DLF to up the FAR for its projects, violating BBMP bylaws and BDA’s master plan.
Charge against Shettar
Meanwhile, RTI activist Dinesh Kallahalli accused Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar of trying to hush up the matter by bringing back the same “suspect” officials. He plans to seekGovernor H.R. Bhardwaj’s intervention in the matter as the Chief Minister was involved.
Speaking at a press conference here on Saturday, Mr. Kallahalli said Tirakana Goudar, Town Planning Member (TPM) in the BDA, who was reinstated to his post while he was out on bail, was also being favoured by the Chief Minister.
DLF violations
The BMTF has arrested Mr. Goudar, who was charged with helping DLF Southern Homes legalise construction beyond what was permitted on a civic amenity (CA) site. He was accused of approving the widening of the Hulimavu-Begur Road to legalise DLF Southern Homes illegal construction.
“DLF constructed 1,962 flats instead of the 440 for which they had taken permission. We are not even able to get documents under the Right to Information Act. We want the Governor to intervene,” Mr. Kallahalli said.
LAND SCAM IN TAMILNADU One for my officer, one for my boy…
Land and property are coveted assets. So why are chief ministers allowed to give these away as favours? JEEMON JACOB tracks how Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has been using his quotas
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| ILLUSTRATION: ANAND NAOREM |
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IN NOVEMBER, Chief Minister of Karnataka BS Yeddyurappa almost lost his job, due to the uproar over preferential allotment of land and property to his sons and close associates. He has since cancelled the allotments, asked his children to move out of his official residence, and retained his seat through some deft political manoeuvring and muscle-flexing. At the height of the campaign against him, as political opponents paraded on apparent moral high ground, TEHELKA published details of plots similarly allotted by previous Karnataka chief ministers, both of the Congress and the JD(S), to relatives, servants, drivers, maids and partymen (LAND SCAM 2.0, 4 December). The purpose was not to make Yeddyurappa’s wrongdoings look less shocking, but to show that the problem was endemic and needed rooting out. The right given to chief ministers to hand out public land to a favoured few — relatives, bureaucrats, judges, police officers and others — smacks of nepotism and arbitrary feudal power structures that should have no place in a modern democracy. (Though there is no immediate proof of this, some of these allotments could also be benamitransactions, in which the ultimate ownership remains with the distributor of the largesse, camouflaged by a stack of fake documents.)
This power — euphemistically called “discretionary quota” — has even been used to favour allegedly corrupt army officers like General Deepak Kapoor (AT EASE WITH GREASE, TEHELKA, 20 November), who was given a large 500 sq yd plot in Haryana by the Hooda government, which then faced the embarrassment of refusing him permission to sell it off before five years had elapsed, as per rules. The plot was given to him by the government as preferential allotment in recognition for his ‘outstanding achievement’.
This week, continuing its campaign against out-of-turn allotments of land and property, TEHELKA has an exposé on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi. The Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) which commands a large land bank, has a government discretionary quota (GDQ) under which 15 percent of all allotments can be recommended by the CM. Eligibility for allotment under GDQ is as follows: single/deserted women; widows; social workers; physically handicapped persons; defence personnel; ex-servicemen; eminent persons in the field of science, arts, literature, economics, public administration and sports; freedom fighters; government servants with unblemished service records; employees of PSUs, central government undertakings and nationalised banks; PF institutions; journalists; university staff; and employees of local bodies and municipalities.
While some of these categories sound kosher, most of them raise a fundamental question: why should the government have the power to give coveted land to select employees and journalists over others? The only rationale could be proximity — which is an untenable reason for being the beneficiary of political favours, often worth several crores.
Setting this aside, even within the legal ambit of the GDQ, TEHELKA’s investigation shows that many of the allotments in Karunanidhi’s tenure have violated the rule book. Many bureaucrats and their relatives have been given plots or flats under the category of “social worker”. Some of these last did social work when they were in college; many of them claim to be volunteers in such routine activity as helping in blood donation or eye camps. Many have issued certificates to themselves; some have acquired letters from the Lions and Rotary Clubs with vague endorsements. In other violations, the rules say that no one who has any other land or property in Tamil Nadu or any other capital city, in either their own or spouse or minor children’s name, can apply for GDQ allotments. TEHELKA found this is routinely violated.
| Many of the allottees issued certificates to themselves, while some got letters from Lions and Rotary Clubs |
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The other brazen violation lies in the claim of “unblemished” service records as a qualification for allotment. When RTI activist V Gopalakrishnan sought a list of such bureaucrats, Additional Secretary S Solomon Raj said, “As no unblemished government servant certificates are issued, the question of furnishing a list of names does not arise.” The additional secretary also clarified that the home department didn’t have such a list. This is the phantom category under which many public servants like Jaffar Sait, 1986 batch IPS officer, now Inspector General of Police–Intelligence, got large allotments of land in prime locations. Why them more than hundreds of others? That’s a democratic question the chief minister will have to answer.
jee…@gmail.com
| Legal Largesse |
| R Bhanumathi
Serving Judge, Madras High Court
FLAT NOS: MIG 249-250, SHOLINGANALLUR PHASE III, CHENNAI
DATE: 30 MARCH 2008
SIZE: 120 SQ M & 139 SQ M
PRICE: Rs. 27.55 LAKH & Rs. 30.05 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: NA
VIOLATIONS
The judge was allotted two adjoining plots on the same day (30 March 2008). According to her Disclosure of Assets statement of 2009, the judge already had a house in her name, and another plot in her husband, advocate K Ganesan’s name. The house, in the Uthangarai area of Krishnagiri district, was constructed in 1985 on a plot purchased in 1982. The plot of land is located in Saidapet and was purchased in 1993. She however admits in her declaration that she owns two plots, which she purchased from the TN Housing Board in 2008. But this allocation was made under the General Category. Since judges do not come under any of the quota categories, the government’s way of allotting land to them differs from the rest. Judges are informed about the availability of land. And when they apply for the same, the government facilitates the allotment. |
| K Raviraja Pandian
Retired Justice, Madras High Court
PLOT NO: B2/5, THIRUVANMIYUR EXTENSION
DATE: 11 NOVEMBER 2009
SIZE: 3,117 SQ FT
PRICE: Rs. 68.54 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 3.2 CRORE
VIOLATIONS
Close relative of DMK supremo Karunanidhi and the Chairman of the School Fee Determination Committee. Little wonder then he was also the recipient of special favours while he was still a serving judge. At the time of the allotment, the judge owned a 50 percent share in an ancestral house at Thiruveezhimizhalai village. The judge had also sold a property he owned at Pazhavatthankattali village near Kumbakonam. The land was purchased in 1991, a house was constructed on it in 1992 and sold in 2009. He had also sold the landed property of his wife in 2009. |
V Ambika
Advocate
PLOT NO: A8, KADAPERY, MADHURANTHAGAM
DATE: 16 FEBRUARY 2008
SIZE: 2,285 SQ FT
PRICE: Rs. 4.54 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 15 LAKH
VIOLATIONS
The advocate owned landed property in more than one location when she was allotted the plot — one vacant house site in Karanai Puducheri village and another in Katrampakkam village, in Kancheepuram district. Her husband, Justice M Satyanarayanan of the Madras High Court, in his Disclosure of Assets, stated that he owns a repurchased MIG flat constructed in 1969 at Indra Nagar in Chennai. Ambika was allotted land under the GDQ. |
| Bureaucratic Bonanza |
| Jaffar Sait
IGP-Intelligence
FLAT NOS: 540, THIRUVANMIYUR, KAMARAJ NAGAR
DATE: 23 APRIL 2008
SIZE: 4,756 SQ FT
PRICE: Rs. 1.26 CRORE
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 6 CRORE
VIOLATIONS
Allotted under ‘unblemished’ government servant category. On 6 June 2008, the government transferred the ownership of the plot to his daughter Jennifer Jaffar, then a student. Jennifer made two payments of Rs. 46.03 lakh and Rs.1.73 lakh towards cost of the plot. In February 2009, she paid another Rs.60 lakh. After having paid Rs.1.07 crore, the ownership of plot was transferred to her mother Parvin Jaffar. Interestingly, Parvin also made the payment all over again. In October 2009, she paid Rs. 50.64 lakh and then again in November 2009, another Rs. 25 lakh was deposited. A further payment of Rs. 51.5 lakh in the same month was made. Income tax officials feel the Sait family made the double payment to avoid an IT investigation on Jennifer, who would not have been able to show any source of income. The Tamil Nadu Housing Board then returned the original amount paid by Jennifer. Now, Parvin in collaboration with Durga Sankar, son of an IAS officer, has commissioned a builder to construct a multi-storey complex in which 12 flats have already been built. Each flat is expected to fetch an estimated 1 crore. So, by paying Rs. 1.26 crore in 2009, the IGP’s family made a profit of more than Rs. 5.7 crore. |
G Prakash
Joint Secretary, Industries
PLOT NO: S6, THIRUVANMIYUR EXTENSION
DATE: 6 MAY 2008
SIZE: 3,829 SQ FT
PRICE: Rs. 76.58 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 4 CRORE
VIOLATIONS
The former district collector of Tirunelveli issued himself a certificate for unblemished government service. |
| CK Gariyali
Retired IAS, Secretary to Governor at the time of allotment
FLAT NOS: S4, THIRUVANMIYUR EXTENSION
DATE: 7 MAY 2008
SIZE: 6,023 SQ FT
PRICE: Rs. 1.20 CRORE. PAYMENT WAS MADE IN 33 INSTALMENTS FROM 18 JULY 2008 TO 6 MARCH 2009
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 6.8 CRORE (APPROX)
VIOLATIONS
Her husband Dr S Rajakumar has a house in Chennai. |
Sumathi Ravichandran
Former Regional Passport Officer, Chennai, and close relative of DMK minister K Anbazhagan
PLOT NO: 1050 HIG, MOGAPPAIR
DATE: 28 MARCH 2008
SIZE: NA
PRICE: Rs. 59.15 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 1 CRORE
VIOLATIONS
Her husband Dr S Ravichandran owns a plot. Following an RTI probe, the TNHB issued a show-cause notice and placed the allotment under suspension. |
| Political Perks |
| L Ganeshan
Former MP, who left Vaiko to join DMK
FLAT NOS: 1052 HIG, MOGAPPAIR
DATE: 27 MARCH 2008
SIZE: NA
PRICE: Rs. 79.86 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: NA
VIOLATIONS
Ganeshan is a trade union leader with the DMK and is close to Karunanidhi. He owns property in his as well as his wife’s name. |
Brinda Nedunchezhiyan
Wife of late Chezhiyan and daughter-in-law of Agriculture Minister Veerapandi Arumugam
PLOT NO: HIG B 3/14, MOGAPPAIR
DATE: 13 MARCH 2008
SIZE: NA
PRICE: Rs. 9.82 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 45-50 LAKH
VIOLATIONS
Allotted flat under Social worker category. The tehsildar of Salem issued her a certificate though he is not empowered to. The certificate says she “is a well-known social worker involved in social welfare activities such as president of Poolavari village panchayat, head of parent-teachers association, participating in educational programmes of many schools”. |
S Rajalakshmi
Wife of R Sakkarapani, MLA and DMK chief whip
PLOT NO: 1047, MOGAPPAIR
DATE: 9 MARCH 2008
SIZE: NA
PRICE: Rs. 79.86 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 3.5 CRORE
VIOLATIONS
She was allotted the flat under the Social Worker category. The supporting document was a letter from a Rotary Club. The letter from PNK Venkatachalapathy, president of the Rotary Club of Oddachatram, dated 31 March 2008, states that “she is known to me as a social worker who is participating in social service activities of our Rotary Club at blood donation camps, free health checkup camps and other welfare activities. She has also been helping in providing several other basic amenities for the people surrounding the slum area for the past several years. I wish her every success to do more services to needy people in and around the area”. |
| D Yasodha
Congress MLA, Kancheepuram Congress MLA, Kancheepuram
FLAT NOS: A5, HIG, MOGAPPAIR
DATE: 19 DECEMBER 2008
SIZE: NA
PRICE: Rs. 59.56 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 3 CRORE
VIOLATIONS
A certificate from the Chennai Municipal Councillor stating she has been an active social worker for the past 40 years actively involved in helping the poor in the area. |
Poochi Murugan
Member of a DMK trade union
PLOT NO: A 11, THIRUVANMIYUR EXTENSION
DATE: 6 JUNE 2008
SIZE: 2,422 SQ FT
PRICE: Rs. 58.61 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 2.75 CRORE
VIOLATIONS
Though a member of a DMK trade union, he was allotted land under the Social Worker category. Has three plots in his name and one in his spouse’s name. He has not produced any supporting document about the social work he has done. |
Bharati Thennarasu
Widow of Sivagangai politician Thennarasu
FLAT NOS: S7, THIRUVANMIYUR EXTN
DATE: 26 AUGUST 2008
SIZE: 3,879 SQ FT
PRICE: Rs. 79.13 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 3.75 CRORE
VIOLATIONS
She was allotted the plot under the Social Worker category. An RTI application revealed that she had not been engaged in any kind of social work that would make her eligible for this category. |
| P Moorthy
Madurai MLA
FLAT NOS: E2/6, MIG, MOGAPPAIR
DATE: 5 DECEMBER 2008
SIZE: NA
PRICE: Rs. 72.5 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 4 CRORE
VIOLATIONS
Allotted under the Social Worker category on a certificate issued by the Lions Club. Owns several plots in his and his wife’s name. |
N Soorya
Daughter of Brinda Chezhiyan and grand-daughter of Agriculture Minister Veerapandi Arumugam
FLAT NOS: B3/13, HIG, MOGAPPAIR
DATE: 3 JUNE 2008
SIZE: NA
PRICE: Rs. 8.99 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 45-50 LAKH
VIOLATIONS
Like her mother, the 20-year-old was given a certificate of social work and domicile by the tehsildar of Salem, stating that she “is a wellknown social worker who is involved in many social welfare activities, such as national social service, participating in eye camp, blood donation and giving education to poor students”. The certificate was issued on 27 February 2008, the same day her mother got one. Both got adjoining flats. |
| Kith and Kin |
Deepa
Daughter of Devaraj M, Private Secretary to the Chief Minister
FLAT NOS: 543, THIRUVANMIYUR, KAMARAJ NAGAR (PLOT ADJOINING SAIT’S AND SHANKAR’S)
DATE: 23 MAY 2008
SIZE: 4,466 SQ FT
PRICE: Rs. 1.08 CRORE
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: NA
VIOLATIONS
Allotted plot under the Social Worker category but there’s no evidence to back it. Constructing a three-storey building involving a cost beyond the family’s known sources of income. Her husband owns another property in his name. Her plot is adjacent to the plots of IGP-Intelligence Jaffar Sait and Durga Shankar, son of the CM’s secretary. |
Naveenkumar
Son of P Muthuveeran, IAS, who was District Collector, Theni, and close to the Chief Minister
FLAT NOS: 541, HIG, THIRUVANMIYUR, KAMARAJ NAGAR
DATE: 27 JULY 2008
SIZE: NA
PRICE: Rs. 1.06 CRORE
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: NA
VIOLATIONS
Allotted flat under the Social Worker category. He works in a software company in Chennai and submitted a salary slip of Rs. 20,000 per month at the time of allotment. Now, he is constructing a fourstorey structure on the plot. |
J Naveen Ibrahim
Son of SI Jaffar Ali, IPS (retd)
FLAT NOS: AI HIG MOGAPPAIR
DATE: 31 MARCH 2009
SIZE: NA
PRICE: Rs. 64.95 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 3.25 CRORE
VIOLATIONS
Allotted flat under the Social Worker category. Certificate issued relates to 1983, when he was a student. The college principal says he actively participated in “many social activities conducted by us. He continues to evince interest in social service activities”. Curiously, the EMI of Rs. 74,000 is almost double his monthly salary. |
Durga Sankar
Son of Rajamanikkam, IAS, Secretary to Chief Minister
FLAT NOS: 538, THIRUVANMIYUR, KAMARAJ NAGAR (PLOT ADJOINING SAIT’S AND SHANKAR’S)
DATE: 28 MARCH 2008
SIZE: 2,450 SQ FT
PRICE: Rs. 1.12 CRORE
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: NA
VIOLATIONS
He is a businessman, but allotted the plot under the Social Worker category. He also submitted an affidavit that the plot would be used for residential purposes. But he violated the conditions and developed the property for commercial purposes. |
| The Others |
M Ilamukil
IT Manager, DMK HQ, Chennai
VIOLATIONS
Allotted flat under the Social Worker category on a certificate issued by the Lions Club. The certificate states that he “is participating in social service activities of Lions Club at blood donation camp, free health camps for the past several years”. |
Ilanthendral
Ilamukil’s sister
VIOLATIONS
Allotted HIG flat under the Social Worker category on the basis of a certificate issued by a panchayat, which is not valid. |
N Kannabiran
Junior attendant at the Supreme Court
VIOLATIONS
Allotted flat under the Social Worker category. Kannabiran, a Delhi resident, was issued a salary certificate by the SC registrar for purchasing land in Tamil Nadu. He was allotted on the recommendation of his superior, who has close links with the DMK. |
C Ganeshan and C Vinothan
PSOs, CM’s Security
VIOLATIONS
Allotted flats under the ‘unblemished’ government servants category. Documents reveal the Superintendent of Police, Security Branch, Chennai, issued vague conduct certificates after the duo were allotted the flats provisionally. |
P Meena
W/O P Pandian, PSO, CM’s Security
VIOLATIONS
Allotted flat under the Social Worker category. She produced a letter from MS Velu of the Lions Club, who liberally issued certificates for sons and daughters of bureaucrats to help them avail of prime plots allotted by the TN Housing Board out of the government discretionary quota. |
PHOTOS: THE HINDU, JEEMON JACOB
Reactions to Land Scam 3.0
D Yashoda, Congress MLA, Kancheepuram
“I have done a lot of work for Dalits throughout Tamil Nadu, especially in Sriperumbudur and Chennai. I have helped them in getting pattas for their land, recommending their names for loans from banks, distributing cycles to Dalits on the birthdays of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.”
Jaffar Sait, IPS, IG-Intelligence
“Government agencies have already probed the matter. I am being governed by the conduct rules, so I should not talk to you about the issue. It is advisable that you seek a response from the Tamil Nadu government. I would like to add that if any defamation or liability arises out of your article, necessary legal action would be taken.”
P Moorthy, Madurai MLA
“I don’t know much about the certificate, I think I got the plot because I’m an MLA. I have done a lot of work in uplifting the people in villages of my constituency. That amounts to social work. I don’t need a social work certificate from the Lions Club but my friends, partners and I took the certificate anyway. “ |
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‘GDQ is a way of making you part of the syndicate’
BY JEEMON JACOB
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C Umashanker
PHOTO: JEEMON JACOB |
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A1990 batch IAS officer, C Umashanker shot to fame during the AIADMK regime when he exposed a scam in the construction of sheds in a cremation ground under the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana when he was additional collector in Madurai. His brush with AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa’s partymen resulted in his transfer out of the district.
Later, when the DMK came to power, he was appointed managing director of the state-run Electronic Corporation of Tamil Nadu and put in charge of procuring colour television sets for free distribution to the poor in the state, in keeping with an election promise of the DMK. He was transferred with immediate effect after he exposed corporate fraud committed by the joint venture promoter ELNET Technologies Ltd.
Later, he was posted as managing director of the state-run Arasu Cable TV Corporation. In this capacity, he opposed the monopoly of Sumangali Corporation run by Kalanidhi Maran. He also took steps to nationalise Sumangali Cable Vision. By that time, Maran had a patch-up with the Karunanidhi family and Umashanker was transferred with immediate effect.
Later, the anti-corruption and vigilance department registered a case against him for disproportionate assets. The government suspended him for claiming fake caste certificate as a Dalit when he is a practising Christian.
| Plots are allotted even without any formal applications. There is no transparency at all |
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He lodged a complaint with the National Backward Commission against his suspension and got a favourable order from the High Court. At present, he is managing director of Tamil Nadu Small Industries Corporation.
Umashanker was allotted a plot (under government order 2D 325) on 3 April 2008 at Thiruvanmiyur Extension when he was in charge of the free colour television for the poor programme. For this, he would have had to pay 55.12 lakh. He wrote to the chief minister that he could not afford to pay such a huge amount. Later, his allotment was cancelled without stating any reason.
Umashanker revealed he had an MIG flat in his name when the plot was allotted and he was not aware about the rule of Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) that he can’t claim a plot when he has another flat in his name.
It certainly seems commendable that Umashanker turned down a chance to own a plot in Thiruvanmiyur Extension, one of the poshest areas of the city. The plot is just 300 metres from the beach.
Though the entire colony has been parcelled out to those close to the ruling establishment, it is the nouveau riche and the industrialists who dream of owning a house in Thiruvanmiyur, where they can rub shoulders with former judges, bureaucrats and political power brokers. If and when the allottees decide to sell their plots, they can demand extremely high prices.
In a frank chat, Umashanker talks about how the government discretionary quota has been misused. Excerpts:
Why are bureaucrats, judges, former judges and politicians given housing plots in posh localities under government discretionary quota?
Who can refuse a good piece of land in Chennai city? It’s a way of rewarding people for good work done. No inquiry has been conducted in this matter so far. Discretionary quota is the prerogative of the government. After RTI came into existence, several activists are taking up the matter in court. Basically, there is no control mechanism or checks and balances. There is little transparency while awarding the GDQ — the plots are allotted without formal applications.
You were also allotted a plot in 2008 under the ‘unblemished government servant’ category. What happened to the allotment?
Yes, I was allotted a plot in Thiruvanmiyur Extension. Initial payment for the plot was Rs. 25 lakh. I never had that much money. So I requested the government to reduce the price. But there was no response. I did not want a house to compromise my integrity. So I never took possession. Later, in 2009, the government ordered a vigilance inquiry against me and cancelled the allotment. Frankly, I was not aware about the TNHB rules that bars a person having a plot, a flat or a house from claiming another plot.
Do you think the GDQ quota is a way of silencing people, buying them out?
Yes, it is a way of making you a part of the syndicate. Plots or flats are given to those civil servants, judges or relatives of the bureaucrats or politicians for complying with certain requirements. There is no procedure for IAS or IPS officers to get a land or plot or flat in a transparent manner. So everybody uses short cuts.
Minister’s DQ proves judges are more corrupt than civil servant
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: An investigation by Cobra post and IBN Network has revealed how former and sitting judges of Orissa, police officers and bureaucrats have received flats from the DiscretionaryQuota (DQ) of ministers. As a matter of fact, successive Urban Development Ministers in the Naveen Patnaik government have misused the discretionary housing quota.
According to the revelation, the judges have got the ‘minister quota’ flats out of turn and at cheaper rates.
The IBN Network accessed letters of judges written to the government asking for prime property in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.
Prime properties were acquired in Cuttack at concession rates, bypassing the Cuttack Development Authority. In fact, Sectors 10, 11 and 13 of Cuttack’s Abhinav Bidanasi project has practically become a judges’ residential colony.
Former Chief Justice G B. Patnaik is a resident of flat 1B/22 in Sector 11 while former Orissa High CourtJudge Radhakrishna Patra has flat 1B/23 in the same sector, given out on lease.
Supreme Court judge Deba Priya Mohapatra, Orissa High Court judges Sanju Panda, Madan Mohan Das, Nityanand Prastuti also own flats in Sector 10 and 11.Papers for the flats were prepared quickly and some judges even got preferred plots.
Most of the allotments took place between 2000 and 2007, under the BJP cadre Urban and Housing Development Minister Sameer De who was State Development Minister from 2000-2004 and then Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo who called the shots from 2004 to 2007.
All that the judges had to do was written to the Minister. The CNN-IBN has a letter written by Justice Madan Mohan Das to the CDA Chairman and to Minister Kanak Vardhan Singhdeo, asking for a B-Category Flat in Sector 10, saying he would ensure a third party transfer of a C-Category Flat already owned by his wife.Justice Das was allotted the flat in just six days.
When asked why the discretionary quota was used to make the allotments, Sameer Dey, former Orissa urban development minister, said, “The Orissa act does not have any such rule. There is 5 per cent and 10 per cent allocation in discretionary quota. Apart from that we don’t have any rule.”
Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo, former Orissa urban development minister, said, “The rule is that only those who apply for the project can be allotted land via Discretionary Quota. So if any such person does not apply what can we do?”
CNN-IBN has also found that many of the judges who were allotted land through the discretionary quota already own ancestral property in Cuttack. Yet the ministers were allotted the land they asked for.
Mysore DC indicted for illegally delisting Rs 6k crore land
BANGALORE: A major land scam worth nearly Rs 6,000 crore, involving about 2,000 acres at the foothills of Chamundi Hills in Mysore, has been unearthed.
Mysore deputy commissioner P S Vastrad is in the spotlight for illegally delisting in June nearly 2,000 acres of prime government land in favour of the Mysore royal family. The land in question is 1,541 acres in Kurubaralli, 259 acres in Chowdahalli and 173 acres in Alanahalli. The market value of an acre in these areas is between Rs 1 crore and Rs 3 crore.
Some top state BJP leaders and influential religious leaders are said be behind the illegal conversion of the land from 'B' kharab to 'A' kharab. According to the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964, 'B' kharab land is property reserved for a public purpose. Any conversion of this to 'A' kharab - making it private property - needs government authorization. But Vastrad passed the order without bringing it to the notice of the government.
"This happened when DV Sadananda Gowda as chief minister held more than 20 portfolios, including revenue. Lack of monitoring in the revenue department enabled the deputy commissioner to change the format," government sources said. Following complaints against the change in land use, deputy chief minister in charge of revenue K S Eshwarappa ordered a probe by chief secretary S V Ranganath, who has given a report indicting Vastrad of being "guilty of misconduct".
The land was mentioned as kharab in survey records dating back to 1861. Later, during a resurvey between 1920 and 1930, the same land was shown as 'B' kharab.
"It appears the DC executed the order in undue haste. Any decision with respect to such land can only be taken by the government under Section of 86 of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act. The delisting of land from 'B' kharab to 'A' kharab without considering the original survey records of 1861 is illegal," the chief secretary said in his report.
Sources in the government said the Mysore royal family had been claiming right over the land after the death of the Mysore Maharaja in 1974, but several orders of the department of personal and administrative reforms clearly state the land belongs to the government. "The heir of the last Maharaja had been raising disputes. Due to this and multiple litigation, unscrupulous elements are trying to falsify records to gain control over this precious land," they added.
Interestingly, the DC withdrew his June order on August 18 on being indicted. Meanwhile, the Karnataka High Court ordered the status quo.
Chief minister Jagadish Shettar, who wanted to suspend Vastrad, is said to have dropped the idea following pressure from top BJP leaders. The government feels that shunting him out at a time when Dasara preparations are under way would mar the festivities.
"I will urge the CM to convene a meeting and take action against the DC," Eshwarappa told TOI.
DC Vastrad yielded to real estate lobby: MLC
Mysore: BJP MLC G Madhusudan on Friday accused Mysore DC P S Vastrad of succumbing to the real estate lobby in a case related to some 2,000-acre land at the foothills of Chamundi Hills.
He has complained to CM Jagadish Shettar in this regard. The BJP leader has also asked for a stay on the proceedings following the order by Vastrad.
In his complaint to Shettar, the MLC said: "The land at the foothills is quite precious and costs several thousand crores as per the present market... You are requested to go through the documents and take up investigation into the matter." In the strongly-worded letter, he has told the CM that "people are alleging that the DC has succumbed to the real estate lobby."
Releasing the copies of his petition, and that of related documents to the media on Friday, Madhusudan asked the CM to intervene. According to him, the court of the deputy commissioner has declared it as B-kharab land and has directed the authorities concerned to issue khathas in the name of Srikantadatta Narasimharaaja Wadiyar, the scion of Mysore royal family and other respondents. In 1935 -- when Maharaja was ruling the state -- the said land was declared as B-kharab, which remained the same all these years. In fact, Maharajas Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar and Jayachamaraja Wadiyar wanted that to be maintained as a green belt to guard the sanctity of the sacred site. "To ensure this, maharaja Jayachamaraja Wadiyar did not make any attempt to register the property in his name till his death," he contended, adding that he didn't even go in for partition of the land in Kurburhalli.
Claiming that it is a public property, the MLC accused the DC of taking arbitrary decisions. "First of all, he can't review any decisions made in the district magistrate court. Secondly, he has to call public objections or have to seek opinion of public prosecutor before conversion of land from B-kharab (unusable land) to A-kharab, which he has not done."
"There real estate lobby is behind it to usurp the property which needs to be probed," the BJP leader said. He, however, was evasive when asked to name those involved. When asked whether district minister S A Ramdas is aware of it, he accused him of being negligent on the issue.
Meanwhile, deputy CM K S Eshwarappa, who also holds the revenue portfolio, said that he has convened a high-level meeting, and directed both the DC and the MLC to attend the same.
BMIC by NICE & land scams in Karnataka – an appeal to honourable supreme court of India & H.E.Honourable Governor Of Karnataka
When a crime is noticed , it is the duty of the government to investigate who did it ? and to legally prosecute them in court & provide justice . if thousands of criminals , lakhs of criminals got together & did the same type of crimes , all of them must be legally prosecuted. Just for the overwhelming numbers of criminals law of the land cann't be changed. However in the Karnataka state , many political bigwigs , rich crooks have done the same crime , LAND GRABBING – illegal possession of government land & illegal constructions over it. Important land records of those government lands , lands belonging to poor are lost in record rooms of civic bodies ( cunningly destroyed by corrupt officials ) Now, their political masters are legalizing the crimes . what a shame to the government of Karnataka ?
The shri.A.T. RAMA SWAMY , (M.L.A) standing committee in the Previous legislative assembly probed the land grabbings in Karnataka & gave it's report to the government . However the government in a hurry , is auctioning – off those government lands without proper publicity to the auction process , sufficient time for bidder's expression of interest. In some cases , a pittance is levied as penalty for the illegal occupation to get it legalized. The government is not bothered about legally prosecuting the illegal occupier of those lands. In many civic bodies , important property documents belonging to the government & poor are missing from the record rooms. All these point towards the government intention , to legalise the crimes of illegal land occupiers who are nothing but their own political cronies.
The recent ordinance by government of Karnataka to regularize land deals is envisaging to legalize the crimes of rich. The illegal land conversions , land encroachments , encroachment of civic amenities made by the rich are being legalized with levying a pittance as penalty in the name of public welfare . Whereas the land worth at today's market prices are 10's of thousands of crore it is only wefare of the rich & mighty . IT IS GOING TO BE MOTHER OF ALL SCAMS. The authorities evict poor tribal people from their ancestral forest area in the name of conservation , evict tribal people from villages in the name of development without proper rehabilitation measures. The government is not giving land rights to slum dwellers , poor , dalits over the land they are dwelling , the government is deaf to appeals of dalits for land rights. However the same government is sympathetic to rich who have encroached land & built huge commercial complexes worth crores violating all norms with total disregard to civic amenity or safety.
ILLEGALITIES IN AUCTION OF M/S IDEAL JAWA LTD MYSORE
During the auction of above sick industry the land usage was for industrial purpose only. so, people with other commercial objectives were not allowed to participate in the auction. Thereby, the final auctioned amount was very much less than the market value. This has a direct bearing on employees of that industry , lending banks , govt dept , etc who have all put forward their claims for dues from that industry. noW, all of them are getting very much less than what is due from the closed company. A loss of crores of rupees to banks , government , employees has been made by the cunningness of civic bodies.
Now in a backdoor move the M.U.D.A , K.I.A.D.B , M.C.C are moving to give land usage conversion to the new occupier, who is building posh villas & resorts here. Is it right & justified ? should not they conduct auction once again or charge market value to the new owner.
The land mafia which has links with political leadership & top govt servants in the state, is running business widely in & around bangalore,mysore & other major towns. The authorities like city corporation , B.D.A, M.U.D.A , K.I.A.D.B , etc are denotifying the lands meant for public welfare in favour of land mafia. The authorities have earmarked these lands for public welfare ie parks , schools , hospitals at the planning stage itself for current & future needs of the people. In most cases the land mafia has illegally occupied the lands , built commercial complexes & sold it for crores of rupees.
1. the authorities are not demolishing these illegal structures & prosecuting the occupiers.
2. In some cases the authorities are denotifying , regularizing those illegal occupations by levying a pittance as penalty which is very much less than the market value.
3. In some cases for example a notified site for school is alloted to an educational trust. They build 2 rooms in 25% of the site & state that this is free school meant for weaker sections. After a year or two , they state before the authority that to run this school they need funds. So they are planning to build commercial complexes around the school site & by the rent collected from shops they will run the school. In this manner sites meant for schools , hospitals , temples & other social organisations apply for conversion of land usage & use major portion of the land for commercial purposes.
Hereby , e-voice urges the govt of karnataka & other authorities ,
1. to clearly demarcate the govt lands & announce it boldly to the public.
2. To clearly demarcate lands meant for public amenities both for current & future usage.
3. To clearly demarcate lands required for town planning say 20 years down the line.
4. To clearly mention in such plans the purpose it is reserved for ie parks , hospitals , schools , etc.
5. To impartially act against illegal occupiers – rich or poor.
6. Say while denotifying a land meant for school an alternate land for school must be incorporated in the original plan.
7. Before denotification public objections must be called for & considered responsibly.
8. After denotification the land must be sold at the market rate not the govt rate.
9. In case of land usage conversion also the objections from the public must be called for & considered responsibly.
10. After land usage conversion an alternate land must be incorporated in the plan for the original use.
11. In case of land usage conversion also the occupier must be charged at the market value.
12. To declare annually the property details of all officials with denotifying / land usage conversion authorities together with details of their family member's properties with provision for public scrutiny, cross checking.
13. To ruthlessly prosecute the corrupt officials & ministers.
14. To make public the report of past district magistrate mysore mr. T.M. VIJAYA BHASKAR about illegal land dealings in & around mysore. Also the action taken report.
ILLEGALITIES IN BANGALORE-MYSORE EXPRESSWAY PROJECT BMIC by NICE
Different political parties are trading charges against each other about illegalities in the mysore-bangalore expressway project. Grave mistakes have been committed by the previous state governments. The saving grace is judiciary has taken note of it. The fundamental principle behind land acquisitions by the governments is to use that acquired lands for public welfare. As the govt acquires the land with this noble intentions even the land looser contents himself with compensation at govt rate. Always the govt rate is much below market value. If at all the govt wants to give out that acquired land to a private party for private use or for the use of a selected few, the govt must give prevailing market rate to the land looser. In such cases the govt does not have authority to force the land owner to sell his property.
In this mysore-bangalore 4 lane expressway project, following inconsistencies are there,
1. this road is not for free public use, but only for those who pays the toll fees.
2. The luxurious resorts , townships , etc which are to be built alongside this road are not open for free public usage but only for the rich who can afford it.
3. The govt has concluded this deal in a hush-hush manner.
4. Any disputes raised by this project should be addressed to international arbiter at london which a poor land owner or general public can ill-afford.
5. The govt has not paid the prevailing market value to the land loosers.
6. The govt has not given the option to land owners not to sell their property.
7. This whole project is for rich , built by the rich for the rich & not meant for public welfare.
The govt must give back the lands to the owners who wants it back & must pay the market value to those willing to sell. As this project is built by wealthy people for wealthy people why cann't they cough- up market value?
CRIMES BY BANGALORE DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY ( B.D.A)
The B.D.A flouts it's own rules & spreads red carpet for big land developers & land grabbers. B.D.A posting is a huge money spinner for corrupt officials. The corrupt B.D.A officials work hand in glove with criminal elements & rowdies. They illegally evict genuine allottees who are poor & without any connections from allotted prime lands & sell-off those prime land to the highest bidder of bribe. The poor fellow is re-alloted lands in backward areas & in some cases left in the lurch.
Now , take the following case. Mr. S.D. chandrashekaraiah a poor old man aged around 80 years was allotted with house no.185, kumaraswamy lay-out, first block, bangalore in 1978 vide letter no.
310/267/BDA/ADM/KMRSL(H)/78-79 dt 11/08/1978.
The chairman of B.D.A has allotted the built house on lease cum sale basis. The poor old man mr. S.D.chandrashekaraiah complied with all the rules & in accordance with it even deposited 25% of the house cost in B.D.A'S account. However when he went over to his allotted house for residing in it, he found out some rowdy elements were already residing there. He complained about this matter to the legal owner of the house ie B.D.A . the B.D.A officials didn't take steps to evict the illegal encroachers nor did they make any complaint to the police. His appeals to B.D.A, chief minister of karnataka , etc fell on deaf ears. Hurt by this gross injustice & mounting financial burdens the poor old man died.
Subsequently, the poor man's daughter smt. Nagalakshmi who was also very poor , appealed to the B.D.A authorities once again , to evict illegal encroachers from her father's allotted house. This time the corrupt B.D.A officials played a different game. They showed her a vacant house, gave her oral instructions to live in that vacant house & told her that they will regularise it in due course. The hapless poor woman took huge loans & repaired the house fit for occupation. Just before she was to occupy that house , corrupt B.D.A officials once again planted rowdy elements in that house. Once again the poor woman was cheated. She lost her house, on top of it her loan burden mounted.
Till date, that poor woman is suffering from these gross injustices of B.D.A . SHAMELESS B.D.A OFFICIALS who take thousands of rupees salary & perks every month, all at the expense of tax-payer has not even cared to rectify the injustice. Thereby, they are violating the poor woman's fundamental & human rights.
Hereby, e-voice urges the honourable chief minister of karnataka, honourable lokayuktha for karnataka , honourable chairman national human rights commission , honourable chairman national commission for women & honourable chairman state commission for women karnataka, to take the appropriate action & to speedily provide justice to this poor woman.
After exposing alleged encroachment of large areas of land in Survey No. 4 of Kurubarahalli in Mysore, BJP MLC G. Madhusudhan has come up with another exposure of about 15,000 acres of forest land encroachment in Chamarajanagar District. These lands were encroached by private parties owing to an order passed by a former Deputy Commissioner.
This was disclosed by MLC G. Madhusudan at a press meet at Pathrakarthara Bhavan here today.
Elaborating on the issue, Madhusudan said “The 15,000 acres of land covers Survey No. 1 in Palya Hobli of Kollegal taluk and Survey No. 174 in Shivanasamudra forest area in Chamarajanagar district. In fact, Kollegal Assistant Commissioner, in an order passed through the DC Court on Dec. 13, 2011, had reiterated that the said area was a government forest land. However the then DC M.V. Savithri bowing to the pressure of a few vested interests had issued an order on July 8 stating that the said land was not a government property which subsequently let in many private parties to encroach upon the land threatening the rich flora and fauna of the forest region.
Continuing, Madhusudan said that any such important order should have come from the High Court. Hence he urged the government to initiate a CBI inquiry into the case by cancelling the former DC’s order and booking her for criminal offence.
Expressing apprehension that the forest land would become a haven for land mafia, he alleged that former Senior Police officials, rich industrialists and influential politicians were involved in the deal. He, however, did not mention names.
Madhusudan said that he would submit a detailed letter to the Chief Minister enclosing the relevant documents to initiate immediate action.
Referring to the scam of land at the foot of Chamundi Hill, Madhusudan said that he was happy that a departmental enquiry would begin soon on the former Deputy Commissioner Vastrad who was involved in the issue.
BDA a den of corruption: T B Jayachandra
Author: ‘BDA a Den of Corruption’
- Published Date: Jul 28, 2012 8:48 AM
- Last Updated: Jul 28, 2012 8:48 AM
Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has become a den of corruption and the government needs to take steps to check large scale irregularities in the authority, said Deputy Leader of Congress in the Assembly T B Jayachandra.
Speaking on the demands on departments in the Assembly, the Congress leader on Friday urged the government to constitute a House Committee to look into the irregularities.
“The BDA has unlawfully de-notified hundreds of acres of land to help builders to form private layouts.
It is a big business involving hundreds of crore of rupees,” he alleged.
He added that many people whose lands were acquired for developing layouts were made to run from pillar to post to get compensation.
“Many allottees have to run around seeking alternate site as in many instances after allotting sites to people the BDA de-notifies land,” he said.
Jayachandra said that during a recent visit to BDA’s Arkavathy layout, he found a big building in the land meant for developing a park.
“It is a 10-year-old project.
Now all that has come up there are buildings in the site meant for park and an IAS Officers House Building Cooperative Society.
BDA has allotted sites in bulk to the society.
Why is BDA selectively helping officers and not common people?” he questioned.
Jayachandra said that former chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda had assured the House of ordering a probe by Corps of Detectives (CoD).
“Why the CoD inquiry was not ordered? Is the government trying to protect the corrupt? Everyone knows no work can be done in BDA without paying bribe,” he added.
According to him, will get `2 lakh crore if it regularises the illegal BDA layouts.
“Many real estate agents are entering into politics and want to contest elections.
This is a big lobby and they can spend crores.
It is a scary trend and we need to stop it,” he added.
‘CCTV cameras in BDA are covered with cow dung’
The government will cancel alternative land and sites allotted by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) in “prestigious extensions” in lieu of private land acquired for the development of Sir. M. Visvesvaraya, Kempe Gowda, Jnanabharathi and Banashankari extensions.
Making an announcement in this regard in the Legislative Assembly, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah promised to order a probe into alleged violation of norms and irregularities committed by BDA and punish the guilty.
Responding to a calling attention notice moved by S.T. Somashekar, K.N. Rajanna and K. Shadakshari of the Congress, Mr. Siddaramaiah admitted that there were illegalities and irregularities in allocation of sites and land for the land acquired in BDA.
The government would order a probe into the scam and action would be initiated against those involved in it. He would direct the senior officials to inquire into the misuse of incentive scheme of allotting land for land losers. Irregularities in revenue land scam would also be probed and all allotments made under this category would be cancelled forthwith, Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
Detailing the allotment made by BDA since 2008, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that 3,314 sites had been allotted under the categories of alternative sites, incentive schemes, land to land and revenue sites. “The government will not spare anybody who has misused the schemes in connivance with the officials”, he said.
Initiating the debate, Mr. Somashekar alleged that BDA had flouted norms while allotting sites and land for acquisition of land without notification.
“BDA officials used the scheme to their convenience, which are meant for helping the poor farmers and land owners”, he lamented.
Accusing BDA of generously giving sites and land to GPA holders in posh localities, Mr. Rajanna, alleged that the authority had not followed guidelines and officials allotted sites and land at their whims and fancies. “The close circuit cameras installed in BDA are being covered with cow dung to gloss the murky dealings. It is scam worth Rs. 1,000 crore and needs comprehensive investigation”, he said.
Violation of order
Pointing at the violation of Mr. Siddaramaiah’s order, Mr. Rajanna said that, through the Chief Minister issued order against allotting sites and land under the category on July 11, BDA allotted six sites on the same evening and issued possession certificates on July 13. This clearly exhibits the uncanny knack of BDA officials to circumvent the directions of the Chief Minister and shows that BDA was above government, he observed.
Reclaim 308 G category sites, says Padmaraj panel
BANGALORE: In a big blow to allottees of G category sites, the Justice B Padmaraj Committee recommended to the state government it cancel and reclaim 308 sites allotted under the chief minister's discretionary quota. These sites in prime localities were allotted between 2004 and 2011.
Three beneficiaries, who have already constructed houses, have been asked to cough up twice the current market price of the sites if they want to retain them.
The panel has reserved its decision on two sites allotted to former CM DV Sadananda Gowda and BJP MLA DN Jeevaraj as their cases are pending before the Supreme Court.
In all, 313 sites/plots were allotted under G category of BDA rules by previous CMs N Dharam Singh, HD Kumaraswamy and BS Yeddyurappa. The beneficiaries included a present minister, MPs, MLAs, MLCs, political party leaders, bureaucrats, police officers, doctors, journalists and even personal assistants, cooks, drivers and peons of powerful politicians.
In Mysore on Saturday, chief minister Siddaramaiah said he would study the report and take necessary action.
Based on a petition filed in 2010 by advocate Vasudev Murthy, the Karnataka High Court directed the state government to form a committee to look into the matter and submit a report. Accordingly, the government constituted the Justice B Padmaraj Committee. By then, many allottees who bagged these prime sites worth crores of rupees had sold their plots in the open market for 10 times that amount.
Though the panel submitted its report on August 26, 2013, the government has dithered taking action. Though the issue was part of the agenda in cabinet meetings, it was kept aside reportedly under pressure from the beneficiaries.
There are even allegations of beneficiaries influencing chief minister Siddaramaiah to bring an amendment to the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) Act, 1976 so that they can hold on to their sites.
According to BDA rules, a person who owns a site or a house in Bangalore is not eligible for allotment under the G category. But, the majority of beneficiaries owned a site or house in the city. The committee report has pointed out that persons who gave a false declaration on this count should forfeit their sites.
Some prominent allottees
Visveshwar Anantha Hegde Kageri (BJP)
Murugesh R Nirani (BJP)
MP Renukacharya (BJP)
Prahalad Joshi (BJP)
R Roshan Baig (Cong)
Sharan Prakash Patil (Cong)
Shakuntala Shetty (BJP)
MT Krishnappa (JDS)
M Srinivas (JDS)
G category site
Rule 5 of BDA (Allotment of Sites) Rules, 1984, lays out various categories under which it can dispose of stray sites. There are seven categories: A (via auction), B (for sportspersons), C (for those who excel in arts, science, literature, education, medicine and public administration), D (for ex-servicemen); F (for dependents of government servants who die in the line of duty) and G (for persons in public life as may be directed by the government). While A, B C, D, E & F category sites are allotted on the recommendation of a BA sub-committee, G category site allotments are the prerogative and discretion of the chief minister.
Who is eligible
* Domiciled in Karnataka for not less than 10 years
* Neither allottee nor family should own a site or house in Bangalore metropolitan area
* Allottee or family should not have been allotted a site or house by the BDA, or any other authority within Bangalore metropolitan area. Allottee has to submit affidavit to this effect
Read articles on BDA :
Ex-MUDA chairmen feel heat over site scam
Former chairmen of Mandya Urban Development Authority (MUDA) are in a state of panic as the Urban Development Department has sent a proposal to the Home Department seeking a CBI probe into illegal financial transactions and distribution of sites.
Ten days ago, the Urban Development Department had sent a letter to the Home Department seeking it to hand over the investigation of the irregularities in MUDA and Ramanagaram-Channapatana Urban Development Authority to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The Police Department has already submitted the preliminary report to the court.
As money was invested in foreign banks, huge irregularities had taken place in the site allotment.
Urban Development Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake had provided details of the irregularities to the Home Ministry and requested them to hand over the case to the CBI.
In 1998, the then irrigation minister K N Nagegowda had closed a lake (432 acres, 10 guntas) belonging to the department and handed over 232 acres and 10 guntas to MUDA and 200 acres to the Housing Board for construction of houses for the poor and middle classes.
The then MUDA chairman P M Somashekar took a loan of `5 crore from State Bank of Mysore, Mandya branch, and through a contractor from Andhra Pradesh developed Vivekananda Nagar layout with 2,600 sites in the 232 acres.
Later, when Asadulla Khan was MUDA chairman, 2,200 sites were distributed through lots.
When Hansiyabanu was MUDA chairman, under the ‘Nimma Aayke’ scheme, 200 sites were distributed.
During the BJP government, MUDA chairman Vidya Nagendra had distributed 107 sites even be fore the final date for the submission of applications.
This illegal distribution of sites was also discussed at the Vidhana Soudha.
Advocate T S Satyananda had lodged a case against three members of the Legislative Assembly and several others in the Mandya Lokayukta Special Court for illegal distribution of sites. The government had directed the authorities to withhold the distribution.
Recently, financial irregularities of Rs 5 crore in MUDA and Rs 16.90 crore by the Ramanagaram-Channapatna Urban Development Authority have come to light.
The local police investigated the case and filed a chargesheet.
The minister said: “We have sent a proposal to hand over the case to the CBI. In a few days, with the CM’s approval, the case will be handed over.”
Probe panel yet to scratch surface of MUDA ‘irregularities’
It’s been a month since a high-level committee was formed to probe allegations of irregularities in land acquired by Mangalore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) for Chelyar Layout. It is operational only on paper.
The grandiose plan of MUDA to form a layout and distribute sites to applicants at Chelyar and Madya villages near Surathkal comes at a cost: Rs. 75,000 monthly outgo to service a Rs. 12 crore loan taken for it.
In an order sent by the Urban Development Department, on August 5, a committee was to deliver a report on the legality of the project within 15 days. The committee is headed by Regional Commissioner (Mysore) M.V. Jayanthi, with Deputy Commissioner N. Prakash and Deputy Director of Land Records B.K. Kusumadhara as members.
After allegations that the price paid for the land in 2008 was too high and favourable to private players, Minister for Urban Development Vinay Kumar Sorake promised a probe in June.
The project envisaged buying 200 acres of private land at an agreed rate of Rs. 25,500 a cent. After the approval of the erstwhile BJP-led government, nearly 73 acres of land had been bought.
While most MUDA officials who talked to The Hindu claimed to have been transferred to the Authority only after site formation, one senior official said: “The entire project was approved by the State government. And so, in this respect, the papers are clean. However, there is a need to ask why the ambitious layout was formed when the Authority was reeling under debt.” Already burdened with a Rs. 4 crore loan, in 2008, MUDA took an additional Rs. 12 crore.
Many officials view the inquiry as a political witch-hunt: aimed at the now-out-of-power party, rather than the Authority itself.
With not one meeting called so far, Mr. Kusumadhara said there was little clarity on the scope of inquiry.
However, the Deputy Commissioner said, “We only have to clear the suspicions. We will collect the required documents, and present it before the Regional Commissioner during her visit on September 12.”
MUDA employees booked for forgery, cheating
MYSORE: Mysore Urban Development Authorities (MUDA) have filed a police complaint against one P Nagaraj son of Puttaswamygowda and two employees of MUDA staff who supported the accused in creating fake documents at Lakshmipuram police station.
MUDA commissioner C G Betsurmath said a site in Gokulam III stage was allotted to one M K Ranganayaki in 1973 through auction and she had obtained title deed in 2002. But in the meantime, the accused Nagaraj has created fake documents about the site and made the authorities believe that he had purchased the said land in 1979 in an auction. Later he has taken title deed for it and then sold it to another party.
But the crime has come to light after the actual owner approached the authorities only recently. When the documents were verified, MUDA authorities found that site number has been forged from 37 to 73.
The commissioner said the title deed of the said site obtained by Nagaraj has been cancelled and we are investigating on this score.
Krishnaraja subdivision ACP A N Prakashgowd said MUDA has given against three persons and we are investigating it.
DLF-Robert Vadra controversy: LAND SCAM
LAVASA LAND SCAM
Probe into bogus bill scam will cover larger picture: BMTF
Bangalore: Attempting to clear the air on speculations regarding the alleged multi-crore bogus bill scam in three assembly constituencies, Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) inspector general of police RP Sharma said the investigation will not be restricted to Rajarajeshwarinagar, Gandhinagar and Malleswaram constituencies. The probe will also include other areas, he clarified.
Speaking at the BBMP head office on Wednesday, Sharma said even though the FIR filed on November 4 by the additional commissioner (administration) pertains to only three constituencies, sleuths will look into other areas if necessary. "The C(TVCC) had mentioned only three constituencies in its report pertaining to irregularities from 2008 to 2011. The FIR was only an instrument to take up investigation, but it does not restrict us from taking up the investigation in other areas," he said.
Town planners' help to be sought
He said even though there is a delay in filing a case, BMTF is trying to clear all hurdles and expose those involved in the scam. The BMTF has seized 153 files pertaining to the irregularities from the three constituencies. Eleven persons and TVCC officials were interrogated and 153 files verified by sleuths in 20 days, Sharma said.
Reacting to a question raised on BMTF's ability to investigate financial crimes and demand to hand over the probe to the Lokayukta, Sharma said the sleuths would seek help from town planners. Currently, there are only two town planners of the 15 sanctioned posts. The investigation team will also include a superintendent of police, deputy superintendent of police (who will join the team shortly), two inspectors, four sub-inspectors and 15 head constables. A fair and impartial investigation would be conducted by the investigation team, he assured.
"We can ascertain the quantum of money that is involved in the scam only after the investigation," Sharma said.
BBMP commissioner Siddaiah entrusted the BMTF to carry out inquiry into the `1,539 crore scam after it was unearthed by the TVCC. The BMTF is an autonomous agency under the state government. It is alleged that bills were sanctioned even though works were not completed in the three assembly constituencies. The irregularities took place during the administrative period when BBMP remained without people's representation. With no corporators, MLAs looked after project works in the wards. The elections to BBMP were held in 2010 after a gap of three years.
Last Friday, leaders of the ruling and opposition parties and civic officials participated in a two-hour meeting called by BBMP mayor R Shardamma to discuss the probe. It was decided to set up a house committee, consisting of five ruling party corporators, two from the opposition and two officials, to investigate the scam, before BMTF took up the case. The move was seen as a delaying tactic by the ruling party in the BBMP council.RK Sharma, IGP, Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force, after a press conference at Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike headquarters on Wednesday.
Bangalore: BMTF Registers FIR Against Suresh Kumar, Krishnaiah Setty
The Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force has registered an FIR against Minister for Urban Development Suresh Kumar, former Housing Minister M Krishnaiah Setty and senior IAS officer V P Baligar for allegedly returning four acres 20 guntas of land, which was acquired by the government under the Karnataka Urban Land Ceiling Act to construct houses for the slum dwellers at Laggere, to the original owner.
The case was lodged based on a complaint by Dinesh Kallalli, a social worker, who stated that Kumar, in his capacity as Urban Development Minister, granted permission to return the land to the original owner, while then Housing Minister Krishnaiah Setty halted the process of constructing houses for the urban poor.
The BMTF has registered a case against the trio under Sections 13 (1) and 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Section 157 of the CrPC on Saturday. Kallalli told Deccan Herald that in 1982, the government acquired 4.2 acres of excess land in survey number 19/2, which belonged to K Gopinath to build houses for the financially weaker and downtrodden people. In 2003, the Karnataka Slum Development Board (KSDB) started the process of constructing houses.
When the process reached the stage of inviting tenders, the Yeddyurappa government took the decision to return the land to the original owner.
It is learnt that under the Karnataka Urban Land Ceiling Act, no one can hold more than 59 acres of land and the excess land should be confiscated. Gopinath had reportedly possessed 4.2 acres in excess, which the government took it in its custody in 1982. Once the land is in government’s custody, it cannot be returned to its original owner, although the government has the power to allot it to other individuals.
Kallalli alleged that the decision was taken to help Gopinath, who is the brother of senior RSS functionary K Narahari. He claimed that the KSDB had objected to the decision, reminding that it was not only illegal, but would also affect the weaker sections of the society. The board also said that the tender process was almost over.
However, the government set aside the objections of the KSDB and the tender process to construct houses. When contacted, Kumar said he had no information about the case since he was away in Bellary. He said he would find out once he returned to Bangalore.
A few months ago, Kumar had tendered his resignation after it was alleged that his family was the beneficiary of a ‘G’ category site. However, the chief minister refused to accept the resignation as no substance was found in the allegation.
Setty, who was in jail over a land denotification case, is out on bail. Baligar is the Managing Director of Housing Urban Development Company (HUDCO) in New Delhi.
When contacted Dr R P Sharma, Additional Director General of Police, BMTF was not available for comments.
JUDGES COVER-UP LAND SCAMS
MUDA LAND IS EASY GRAB !
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RTI exposes 4-storey apartment built on MUDA’s encroached land
Caption: RTI activist B.N. Nagendra
Mysore, Jan. 8- With the land value in city shooting to the skies, the land mafia continues to encroach upon vacant government lands through dubious means. Despite the land-grabbers encroaching upon the government lands and building multi-storey buildings upon them, the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) and Mysore City Corporation (MCC) authorities are sitting tongue-tied and hands tied, which has further emboldened the land grabbers who are hand in glove with some unscrupulous officials to create fake records.
It has come to light of late that fake documents were created for two MUDA sites in Chikkaharadanahalli (Aravindanagar) First Stage at Chamaraja Mohalla, on which a four-storey building with 12 apartments have been constructed and all of them are occupied now.
The alleged fraud came to light after an RTI activist B.N. Nagendra, resident of Yadavagiri in city, sought information about the building from the MUDA.
The two sites measuring 50x80 ft in Aravindanagar are close to Kuvempunagar. MUDA had formed the layout during 1988-89. At that time, Sites No. 700 and 701 in Chikkaharadanahalli First Stage were not allotted to anyone.
In reply to the Nagendra’s query under the RTI provisions, the MUDA Public Information Officer replied that MUDA had no records or documents to say that the said two sites were not allotted to anyone.
The sites were formed during 1988-89 and the building on it is eight years old. So, does it mean that the MUDA authorities were blind to the encroachment all these years? Or, is it that they are not aware that the sites belong to the MUDA? Or, does it imply that they are involved with the land-grabber?
The MUDA does not have records of allotment, possession certificate, sale deed, Khata-revenue letter or receipts for cash transactions made. However, the City Improvement Trust Board (CITB) ledger shows the names of Chikkathayamma, resident of No. 818, New Kantharaj Urs Road, Mysore, along with Mahadevamma, Lakshmi and N. Shivakumar, residents of No. 555 of the same address, written by hand. The ledger shows that the two sites were purchased for a mere sum of Rs. 39,366 on April 4, 1988; the Khata and revenue have been fixed based on this document alone. The building was constructed by getting the building plan approved in the names of Mahadevamma and Chikkathayamma. The four-storied building is named as Shashank Paradise.
The site and building was inspected this morning by MUDA Superintending Engineer Shivakumar, Zonal Officer of Zone-1 Bhaskar and other MUDA officials. The 12 families residing in the flats are now an anxious lot after realising that they have been cheated and they do not possess relevant documents for the flats they purchased.
Some of the residents of the building whom SOM spoke to said that they had purchased the apartments based on sale agreements and paid Rs. 25 to Rs. 35 lakhs in advance. They confessed that the low prices lured them to buy the apartments as the actual price in that area was much higher. Each apartment has a master-bedroom, another smaller room, a living room, puja room, kitchen and a toilet.
Meanwhile, MUDA Commissioner S. Palaiah told SOM that he will investigate the matter and take suitable action.
Muda Land Encroachment: Criminal Case Booked against Housing Society President
Mysore, Sept. 20- In view of the allegation of encroaching 27 guntas of MUDA land close to Vijayanagar 2nd Stage, the Vijayanagar Police have booked a case against the President of Sri Mahadeshwara House Construction Co-operative Society, R. Shankare Gowda.
A written complaint filed by MUDA Zone 4 Zonal Officer R. Rajashekhar yesterday, following which a case was registered by Sub-Inspector Kumar.
The land is a portion of the land under survey number 120 in Hinkal, measuring 3.25 acres. Out of this, 1.16 acres of land was acquired on June 20, 1974 under LAC 10. Remaining 2.09 acres was acquired by MUDA from one Puttathayamma through mutual agreement on Oct. 31, 1985.
A 1.14 acre land was given to the Karnataka Water Board where a road and park have been developed. The remaining area lies vacant, of which Shankare Gowda allegedly created fake documents to stake claim on 23 guntas of land in the name of the Housing Society.
RTI activist B.N. Nagendra had sought information about the said land under the Right to Information (RTI) Act which brought to light the alleged irregularity.
Response to MLA Vasu’s letter: Chamarajanagar MLA Vasu had written a letter to Urban Development Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake, urging him to probe the irregularities in sites allotment, suspecting the involvement of some MUDA officials.
The Minister directed the Urban Development Department Secretary to probe the matter, who in turn asked the MUDA Commissioner to submit a report regarding the allegations. A directive was issued to the DC too to probe the matter, following which a complaint was lodged against the Housing Society President.
With the real estate prices in city skyrocketing, efforts to usurp sites and government land by hook or by crook are on too, despite several precautionary measures taken up by the MUDA.
Here is an incident of a person trying to acquire a corner site in Jayalakshmipuram, measuring 110x120 ft, by not paying a single paisa to MUDA but by merely paying Rs. 27,540 in an auction. The matter came to light when a citizen named B.N. Nagendra applied for information under the Right To Information (RTI) Act. It is said that he took interest in digging out information about the site after an acquaintance of his disclosed about the fraudulent deal.
Thanks to the efforts of MUDA Secretary Basavaraju who made meticulous investigations of the documents, the MUDA property worth several crores was saved from being usurped.
The site is in Jayalakshmipuram, which was formed about 40 years ago. It is a corner site off the road leading to The Green Hotel on Hunsur road. The site bears the number 23/A, having site number 23 towards the east, another site on the north and roads on the western and southern sides.
The fraud was committed by Raju, 60, a resident of Paduvarahalli 2nd Main, Door No. 54. He is said to have forged the signature of MUDA Zone 4 Special Tahasildar Devaraj and also used a duplicate rubber stamp for the fake documents.
The truth is that no auction was held for site no. 23/A. However, the accused Raju is said to have created fake documents that claimed that he had purchased the site in an auction for Rs. 27,540 on Jan. 3, 1979. A title-deed for the site was prepared at Zone 4 office under Form-2 (5) in Kannada dated Jan.2, 2013.
The site, for which fake documents were prepared in January, was registered three months later — that is on Mar. 22, 2013, at 4.30 pm, at the Sub-Registrar’s office in MUDA. It is said that the letter written by Special Tahasildar Devaraj to the Sub-Registrar to get the site registered was also forged.
Soon after the fraudulent deal came to the fore, MUDA Secretary Basavaraju placed a signboard at the site four days ago, stating that the land belonged to the MUDA. A complaint was lodged at the Lakshmipuram Police Station yesterday.
It is surprising that the title-deed for the site was prepared despite any auction conducted by the MUDA, no application submitted, no notes written by the officials concerned and no entry made about cash payment. The Police have launched a hunt for the accused who is at large.
MUDA employees booked for forgery, cheating
Mysore Urban Development Authorities (MUDA) have filed a police complaint against one P Nagaraj son of Puttaswamygowda and two employees of MUDA staff who supported the accused in creating fake documents at Lakshmipuram police station.
MUDA commissioner C G Betsurmath said a site in Gokulam III stage was allotted to one M K Ranganayaki in 1973 through auction and she had obtained title deed in 2002. But in the meantime, the accused Nagaraj has created fake documents about the site and made the authorities believe that he had purchased the said land in 1979 in an auction. Later he has taken title deed for it and then sold it to another party.
But the crime has come to light after the actual owner approached the authorities only recently. When the documents were verified, MUDA authorities found that site number has been forged from 37 to 73.
The commissioner said the title deed of the said site obtained by Nagaraj has been cancelled and we are investigating on this score.
Krishnaraja subdivision ACP A N Prakashgowd said MUDA has given against three persons and we are investigating it.
Fraudster sells government land, dupes MUDA
The Mysore City Corporation almost lost a huge site because of the negligence of the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) before the fraud was discovered in the nick of time.
The accused Krishna had forged documents of 1.13 acres in Survey No 505 in Kesare village and sold it to one Parveez who started constructing a building when it was stopped by MCC officials. The accused had even got an NoC to sell the land from MUDA, which did not bother to find out the real owner.
Krishna is said to be a relative of the man to whom the land originally belonged before it was acquired by the erstwhile City Improvement Trust Board (CITB) for civic purposes about 58 years ago.
Finding the land vacant for many decades, the accused created fake documents and tried to sell it.
Sources in the MCC said that after obtaining information through RTI about the land, Krishna, along with his relative Chennaiah, obtained an NoC from MUDA and got the Khata made for the land from the taluk office by producing fake documents.
The property was registered in Krishna’s name in 2009.
Krishna then sold the illegal property to Parveez in 2011-12. After realising that he had been cheated, Parveez filed a suit in court, getting a permanent injunction restraining the defendant from interfering with his peaceful possession of the property.
Revenue Assistant Commissioner R Lokanath said that when he inspected the place, he found that Parveez had occupied the land and even fenced the property that belonged to the Corporation. Upon questioning, he produced the clearances obtained from MUDA, Taluk office and even the court.
After being alerted, MCC officials registered a land grab-cum-cheating complaint against Krishna and Parveez. They have even approached court and the case is pending.
THE CLOUT OF LAND MAFIA IN INDIA -the governments daring to by-pass judiciary
An appeal ( PIL ) to the honourable supreme court of India
The recent attempts by government of India & other state governments to legalise land grabbings by enacting new land laws in the name of public welfare is farce . while crores of people are without shelter & are living on streets , people in slums , tribal lands are struggling for land rights since decades the governments were mum & deaf. Now , as the rulers themselves & their cronies have built illegal constructions running into crores they are shedding crocodile tears in the name of public welfare. In india, various state governments have enacted " town municipal / city corporation laws & building laws" , to ensure orderly growth of cities & towns , to ensure the safety of buildings & it's occupants , to ensure the safety of pedestrians & road users.
Numerous educated people , ruling elite – ministers , police , government officials , M.Ps , M.L.As , etc knowing fully well about the laws have illegally built bungalows , commercial complexes , throwing to wind all laws. In their greed they have shown utter contempt towards law. They have encroached dried –up lakes , rivulets , rain flow paths , drainages , foot paths , civic amenity sites. In their building there are violations of- lack of fire safety exits , lack of parking space , encroachment of foot paths , conservancy line , drainages , etc.
There is wide spread corruption in the corporation / municipal authorities. For a price officials have converted CA sites to commercial purposes , authorised deviations / encroachments of public
lands like foot paths , drainages , parking space , set-off , etc. The corporation officials themselves are violating city master plans. Even before authorising the conversions & encroachments of lands , the
corporation officials are not making alternate arrangements. By all these corrupt deeds many of the corporation officilas have become millionaires . however more & more road accidents are taking place , building collapses & fire tragedies are occurring , during heavy rainfalls water is getting clogged – ALL THESE RESULTING IN LOSS OF HUMAN LIVE & PROPERTIES. In recent days numerous murders have taken place over the real estate issues . THE CRIMINAL LAND GRABBERS MADE DEATH THREATS & FORCED THE PIL APPLICANT IN THE KARNATAKA HIGH COURT ABOUT LAND GRABBINGS IN KORAMANGALA LAYOUT BANGALORE. The government of karnataka instead of protecting the PIL applicant & upholding the law has taken sides with the land grabbers.
The state governments of karnataka & delhi has got M.L.As & officials who have themselves violated building laws & grabbed govt lands. Now , the two govts are contemplating to bring in laws regularising these land grabbing crimes for a pittance as penalty. All to by-pass judiciary. The governments are least bothered about the lives of poor & only too caring towards the land grabbing criminals. The same governments have not yet given land rights to poor slum dwellers / dalits , land rights to tribals living in forest since centuries , land rights to poor agricultural labourers, where as it is full of concern towards rich & mighty land grabbers – criminals. Bottom line – whatever be the magnitude of crime if you are rich & mighty law will be bended to suit you , by bad luck if you are a poor folk you are bound to suffer being on the right side of law also. Hereby , e-voice urges requests the honourable supreme court of india , to register this as a PIL , to provide protection to the PIL applicant in bangalore & to take appropriate actions against the GOK & GOD nipping at bud their illegal motives to regularise land grabbings.
Instead of answering our RTI questions , the officials are giving half truths , vague answers to our questions , some of the serious questions they are not answering at all. Even Mr. P. Manivannan past deputy commissioner of Mysore District & Chairman of MUDA , failed to uphold justice . He threatened me for asking truth , but he didn’t answer the RTI questions. Through media management he has cultivated a clean public image of demolishing man of illegal structures , whereas during his time only some illegal structures were raised.
Due to Criminal nexus of Some MUDA officials – Politicians – Police , these illegal land grabbings are happening , the honest among MUDA , POLICE & Politicians must raise to the occasion . They must save government land , first of all ask MUDA Chairman / commissioner to answer the above RTI Questionnaire publicly.
Hereby , e-voice urges the concerned authorities , to answer the following questionnaire about BMIC project by NICE
Hereby ,e-voice appeals to honourable supreme court of India , to annul the bid process of government of Karnataka with respect to illegally occupied government lands & to annul this ordinance of government of Karnataka which seeks to legalize land crimes. Jai hind . vande mataram.
Your's sincerely,
Nagaraja.M.R.
CID to probe Rs 6,697 crore KIADB denotification scam
Lokayukta directs the agency to submit a report within July 30
Irregularities to the tune of Rs 6,697 crore in land acquisition and compensation by the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) between 2006 and 2011 - the span of the BJP government - will be investigated by the CID. The land involved is a whopping 26,674 acres.
A petitioner, Jayakumar Hiremath, filed a complaint with the Lokayukta last August following a directive from the Karnataka High Court. He had sought a CBI probe into the issue.
"The matter is now referred for a CID probe," Hiremath told Bangalore Mirror. "I welcome this. As the deadline is set now, it has set the ball rolling into the probe."
In an order dated 29 May 2014, A C Vidhyadhar, additional registrar of enquiries (ARE), Karnataka Lokayukta, has referred it to the CID with a July 30 deadline to submit a report on the case. ''Honourable Lokayukta has taken up the matter for investigation and requisitioned your services under section 15 (3) of Karnataka Lokayukta Act for a further investigation and report.
In this context, I would like to bring to your notice that under sec 15 (3) of Karnataka Lokayukta Act, the Honourable Lokayukta and Upa Lokayukta can avail the services of any agency for the purpose of investigation. As the matter pertained to economic offences, the Honourable Lokayukta has felt it is necessary to utilize your services for investigation," says the communication sent by the Lokayukta to the CID, a copy of which is with Bangalore Mirror.
Karnataka HC summons MD of Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board
BANGALORE: Strongly observing that KIADB (Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board) has failed to ensure the benefits of land acquisition reached the targeted groups, including farmers as envisaged in its schemes, the Karnataka high court has directed the managing director (MD) of the board to appear before court on Friday.
A division bench headed by Justice K L Manjunath gave an oral direction to this effect while hearing a writ appeal filed by two persons whose lands were acquired in 1996 for setting up a sugar factory at Kaliganahalli and Hattna villages of Bellur hobli, Nagamangala taluk in Mandya district.
The bench also noted that the board has not been able to justify the acquisition as despite lapse of many years as the projects do not start within the stipulated time and other allied conditions like providing jobs to land losers etc are not implemented.
Extension withdrawn
Meanwhile in a related development, a memo has been filed in court stating that two year extension granted in favour of M/s Prem Sugar and Chemicals Corporation Ltd for setting up 5,000 TCD sugar factory with 32 MW co-generation plant has been withdrawn on the ground that the company had misrepresented that there are no cases pending before court.
This order came to be issued after the division bench pulled up the authorities and even warned of contempt proceedings after it was stated that two year extension was granted to M/s Prem Sugar and Chemicals Corporation Limited during the pendency of proceedings before the court.
As per the terms of allotment of 86 acres of acquired land, M/s Prem Sugar and Chemicals Corporation Ltd should have operationalized its unit within 36 months from 1996, by 2000.
Though the company got this period extended through a court order and the Board twice on its own extended the deadline, the company has not even laid a foundation stone for its project despite passage of 16 years after allotment, the court had noted earlier.
CAG Finds Lapses in PWD, KIADB Works
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has come down heavily on the Public Works Department and the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) for causing losses worth crores of rupees to the exchequer. The KIADB alone caused losses to the tune of Rs.104 crore, it said.
The PWD had implemented road works in its Magadi sub-division in a fraudulent manner and the KIADB allotted land to three industrial units at Narasapura Industrial Area in violation of rules, it said.
The report was tabled in both houses of the state legislature on Wednesday. It pointed out serious lapses by the chief engineer, superintending engineer and executive engineer in implementing works worth Rs.250.62 crore in Magadi sub-division in Ramanagaram district during 2011-12.
“There was a total lack of monitoring and supervision by higher authorities during the course of execution of works although the SE/CE were required to regularly monitor and supervise these works. Quality control reports were not available for any of the works claimed to have been executed,” the CAG stated.
The Internal Finance Advisor and secretary also failed to correlate monthly expenditure statements received from subordinate officers with details of works in progress. “The CE allocated grants to the extent of Rs.212.13 crore without prioritising works according to prescribed procedures and did not submit any budget estimates to the government,” the report said, indicting the department officials.
Total grants of Rs.250 crore were allotted for the Magadi sub-division — 27 times the average grants released over the past three years.
The grants were allotted irregularly by the Internal Financial Advisor and the CE, SE without obtaining a list of works. Fraudulent payments of Rs.1.70 crore were made preparing fake bills, it said.
The entire work was split into 1,311 small works with each estimate below Rs.20 lakh to avoid competitive bidding. In 189 cases, more than one estimate was prepared for the same work leading to fictitious estimates. Surprisingly, 891 of the 1,311 contracts were awarded to just 3 contractors without even collecting the EMD and performance security, it said.
Check measurements were done on a single day by the department officials in 25 to 85 works and bills were paid without obtaining quality control test reports.
It said surprise checks were not undertaken by superior officers.
The inspection team constituted by the department had observed irregularities and recommended recovery of the amount from the contractors as works were neither executed nor identifiable during physical verification.
KIADB Land Fiasco
The CAG report on Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board’s allotment of plots at Narasapura Industrial Area at a subsidised rate has exposed the loss of Rs.104 crore to the exchequer.
While the government had approved the allotment of undeveloped land, KIADB allotted 128 acres of well developed plots for three industrial units at a concessional rate, thus resulting in a loss of Rs.104 cr. KIADB had incurred an expenditure of Rs.1.10 cr for developing each acre of land.
Fresh panel to probe into irregularities in site allotment by Shimoga Urban Development Authority
The meeting of Shimoga Urban Development Authority (SUDA) convened here on Tuesday has decided to constitute a new panel to probe the alleged irregularities in the allotment of sites in Atal Bihari Vajpayee Layout.
It may be mentioned here that Deputy Commissioner Vipul Bansal, who is also in-charge President of SUDA, had formed an inquiry panel under retired Judge H.B. Ravindranath to probe the irregularities in site allotment.
The panel, in its report, had said that of the total 1,800 sites in the layout, 1,305 sites were allotted in violation of the law.
The committee had pointed out 22 different types of lapses in site allotment. Based on the report, Mr. Bansal had said that a complaint would be lodged with the police against the persons indicted in the report.
In the meeting, R.K. Siddaramanna, MLC, said that it was not possible to initiate legal action against erring persons on the basis of the report submitted by the probe panel.
He said that according to Section 9(2) of Karnataka Urban Development Authorities Act, only the president of an urban development authority should head the panel that probes irregularities.
The meeting has decided to form a fresh panel under Mr. Bansal.
The sub-registrar of Shimoga and commissioners of SUDA and Shimoga City Corporation would be the members of the panel.
Meanwhile, Kallur Megharaj, managing trustee of Shantaveri Gopala Gowda Samajawadi Adhyayana Kendra Trust, has demanded a CBI probe into the irregularities in site allotment by SUDA.
Earlier, Mr. Bansal had said that he would initiate action against the erring persons based on the report submitted by the panel headed by Mr. Ravindranath.
Speaking to presspersons here on Wednesday, Mr. Megharaj alleged that Mr. Bansal haddecided to go for a fresh probe yielding to political pressure.
· Panel to be headed by Deputy Commissioner
Vipul Bansal
· Sub-registrar of Shimoga and Commissioners of SUDA and city corporation to be members
Ambareesh Accused of Cornering 3 Sites
MANDYA: An individual is entitled only to one site from an urban development authority (UDA) in the state, but Housing Minister M H Ambareesh allegedly got three large ones.
Recently accused of violating rules to get a site from the Mandya Urban Development Authority, Ambareesh allegedly bent the rules to get sites in two other cities: Mysore and Bangalore. As an actor, Ambareesh rose to fame by frequently playing an angry, upright police officer who takes on a corrupt system, earning the epithet ‘Rebel Star’.
RTI activist K R Ravindra said Ambareesh had procured the sites by submitting false documents. “The sites are meant for the public. The government should immediately take them back. Ambareesh should resign from his ministership on moral grounds,” he told Express.
Why Govt Sites?
Sites sold by government-run bodies like BDA are priced way lower than the open market. Ambareesh allegedly got sites from the Mandya, Mysore, and Bangalore Urban Development Authorities. On January 16, 1986, Ambareesh got a 78X 50 ft site (No 1260) in G and H Block Layout, JCST, Kuvempunagar, Mysore.
For Mysore Urban Development Authority records, he gave his residential address as No 172, II Stage, J P Nagar, Bangalore. He paid `36,444 for the site.
Curiously, MUDA handed him the sale deed only on August 12, 2008, 22 years after he was allotted the site. In 1987, just a year after he got a site in Mysore, Ambareesh got another from the Bangalore Development Authority. When he responded to an advertisement offering plots in Sarakki II Stage, he was allotted, on July 28, 1987, a 120X80 ft site. He paid `93,639 for this one.
Woodlands Address
For BDA records, Ambareesh entered his residential address as 412, Woodlands Hotel, Sampangi Tank Road, Bangalore. How a hotel address was accepted by the BDA authorities is a mystery. On March 6, 1999, when Ambareesh was Mandya MP, he again applied for a site. He got a 50X80 site (now with House No 917) on March 23, 2002, under the MP quota. He paid `3 lakh for the site.
Halved and Sold
Later, the site was allegedly divided into two and one portion (25X80 ft) was sold to K Govindaraju, a resident of Mysore, for Rs 1.75 lakh. The other (also 25X80 ft) was sold to S Ajith, a resident of Hindavalu in Mandya taluk, for Rs 3.87 lakh. This sale also violated also rules.
Section 12 (2) of the Karnataka Urban Development Authorities (Allotment of Sites) Rules of 1991 stipulates that any person who owns a site or house in any part of the state becomes ineligible for another site or house from any authority or housing board in the state. Efforts to reach Ambareesh failed.
Self-Housing Minister
Ambareesh allegedly owns three sites in violation of the rules:
Mysore: 78X50 ft, Kuvempunagar. Paid Rs 36,444.
Bangalore: 120X80 ft, J P Nagar (Sarakki). Paid Rs 93,639.
Mandya: 50X80 ft. Paid Rs 3 lakh. Divided it and sold it to two buyers.
Full-fledged CBI probe likely in Mandya site scam
Urban Development Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake on Tuesday said his department would look into the findings and merits of a report by the Mandya Urban Development Authority (MUDA) commissioner K Mathai on the alleged irregularities and illegal allotment of sites by the Authority.
“We have received the report, but have not accepted it. We will send the report to the Home department for its perusal,” Sorake told reporters here. Sorake said the department had already handed over the initial case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The department is handing over all the documents pertaining to the case to the CBI.
“Whether this report also warrants to be handed over to the CBI is a decision which will be left to the Home department,” he said. The report, which was submitted on June 4 to the Urban Development department, speaks about a loss of Rs 300 crore to the State government by way of illegalities under various schemes. The report states that the government has already handed over the case pertaining to 107 sites to the CBI. Justifying the decision to hand over the case to CBI, Sorake said that the initial estimates of the scam were to the extent of Rs 23 crore. The misappropriated amount was transferred to accounts outside India, primarily to Australia, said the minister.
On Housing Minister M H Ambareesh’s reported request to transfer Mathai from the present post, Sorake said that he had not received any such request. “But he has already been promoted and transferred to Bidar. Due to the Lok Sabha elections, the transfer was withheld,” said the minister.
Sorake said that the department was trying to strengthen the Directorate of Urban Development and streamline the site allotment process in the City Corporations. He said that 50,000 sites in Mysore were remaining vacant, despite them being allotted to beneficiaries.
Land mafia grabs Mysore Maharaja Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar Bahadur's property
With the last scion of the erstwhile princely state of Mysore, Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar Bahadur, passing away more than six months ago, the real estate mafia is eyeing his properties running into crores of rupees, in the heart of the historical city of Mysore.
Astonishingly, two prime properties of Wadiyar were alienated just 3 days before he passed away (December 10, 2013) with the sub-registrar's office even giving its approval. This prompted the late prince's widow Pramodadevi to seek a Lokayukta probe. Till recently, the Wadiyar family members were not even aware of their land being usurped by the real estate mafia.
The net worth of Wadiyar's assets (spread across Bangalore, Mysore and Ooty) are estimated to be in excess of Rs.1,600 crore. He also holds a share in the Bangalore Palace grounds, which is embroiled in a legal dispute after the Karnataka Government planned to take over the same. It is not clear as to how many smaller properties the Wadiyar family owns but the land mafia's efforts, has shocked the people of Mysore. Incidentally, both the illegal transactions were brought to the notice of the royal family by an NGO (Karnataka Rajya Hindulida Vargagala Jagruta Vedike).
"It is unfortunate that illegal alienation of properties owned by the Maharaja's family is happening in the CM's hometown. He has agreed to look into the matter and directed the authorities concerned to take up the issue. Hopefully, the Lokayukta should be able to end this menace," said Vedike's president K.S. Shivaram.
Mysore Lokayukta SP S.M. Jagadish Prasad said a probe had already been ordered into the two land transactions and that the properties would be restored to the Wadiyars.
In the first incident, a prime property belonging to the Wadiyars near the Mysore Mall was sold, as if the late prince had given his consent on December 7, 2013 (just three days before he died). The police have arrested two real estate agents and the sub-regitrar concerned.
In the second incident, again on the same day (December 7), another prime property (1.5 acres) was alienated in favour of 70-year-old Siddamma, a gardener in the palace. Apparently, it is shown in the sale deed that Wadiyar granted the land to Siddamma as a gift.
"On December 7, 2013, the late prince was in Bangalore. There is no way that he visited the subregistrar's office to sign the sale deed documents. This is a clear case of forgery. We need to examine all the transactions to detect such cases," said Shivaram.
According to him, the real estate mafia has fenced three other prime properties owned by the Wadiyars in Mysore.
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