Kumaraswamy writes to PM seeking judicial probe into BMS scam in Bengaluru

BENGALURU:  Seeking intervention of the Prime Minister into the alleged BMS scam wherein ‘wrongful’ amendments have been done by the BJP-ruled state government with an aim to sell properties of a public trust, Janata Dal Secular (JDS) leader and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy demanded a judicial enquiry into the approval of a resolution to amend the trust deed of B.M. Srinivasaiah Educational Trust, Bengaluru. The public trust which owns properties worth Rs 10,000 crore was privatized.

The BMS Trust which came into existence in 1957 runs colleges including engineering, law and a college for women in various parts of Bengaluru city with generous financial grants and extensive logistic support of the state governments which ruled the state. 

By approving the amendments, Kumaraswamy, in a 7-pages letter to Modi, alleged that the state government ‘deliberately’ relinquished its right of becoming the donor trustee for all times and accused the Minister for Higher Education Ashwathanarayan of having taken a prominent role in getting approval for the proposed amendments, in collusion with the previous Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, in its order on March 31, 2021.

He said that “It was not a mere approval but a permission from the ruling (BJP) state government to sell the public property for illegal enrichment of persons having vested interests.”

In his letter to Modi, Kumaraswamy brought to the notice of the Prime Minister that when he was the Chief Minister in 2018, he had rejected the all the proposed amendments to the Trust deed to defuse the efforts to privatize the public trust and the proposed amendments were rejected after taking legal opinion to find out the legal proprietary of the proposed amendments. The proposals were rejected on January 1, 2019. 

The JDS leader highlighted that the government nominee to the Trust Dr N. Manjula, IAS officer in a letter on July 16, 2019 to the state government asked not to approve the amendment but “unjustifiedly” accorded approval for the proposed amendments.  

Elaborating on his efforts to protect the public property, Kumaraswamy wrote: “I raised a question on the floor of the Assembly on September 22 and 23 previous year with all documents, facts and figures but the minister concerned failed to take note of my discussions and nothing substantial happened.”