Urge panel to summon BDA commissioners who have served since 2003

Bengaluru,Mar 3 (DHNS): Lawyers backed by the BJP have filed complaints before the Justice H S Kempanna Commission, accusing the regime of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of committing fraud and cheating the exchequer of crores of rupees, by way of deleting 119 acres of land in Arkavathi Layout.

The complaints, filed by J Ashok Kumar and Nataraj Sharma, have also urged the Commission to summon the BDA commissioners since 2003 to furnish their statements on Arkavathi Layout land acquisition. The list of bureaucrats, whom the complainants want to depose as witnesses in the case, include former IAS officers Jayakar Jerome, Siddaiah, Shankaralinge Gowda and M N Vidyashankar apart from serving IAS officers like Bharath Lal Meena, Pradeep Singh Karola and Sham Bhatt.

The complainants have said that they were unable to procure several of the documents, despite their best efforts, and have thus sought for the deposing of the above-mentioned officers, along with Revenue department and Urban Development department officials.

Nataraj Sharma, who has been associated with the BJP legal cell, had twice sought appointments with Governor Vajubhai Vala to request for his permission for sanction to prosecute Siddaramaiah. However, Raj Bhavan has so far refused to give an appointment.

The complaints state that Siddaramaiah’s involvement in the deletion of land for Arkavathi is further strengthened with land deletion having occurred within three days of receiving a recommendation from the BDA to delete land extents. It is said that the deletion was done in violation of High Court and Supreme Court directives. The complaints state that the deletion of land had been done to benefit land developers like Tejraj Gulecha.

In another case, as mentioned in the complaints, a government recommendation for “reinspection” of 35 acres and 2.5 guntas was made to the BDA. However, the same extent of land was later increased to 54 acres and seven guntas. The complainants have claimed that the BDA indulged in forging of documents pertaining to the said land.

Tracing the history of the Arkavathi Layout land deletion saga, the affidavits state that the first instance of illegality was in 2003 when 589 acres and 12 guntas of land were denotified during the S M Krishna regime. The complaints have claimed that nearly 28 per cent of the land was denotified before the Arkavathi Layout case reached the judiciary.