37 year old land row haunts Siddaramaiah

Mysuru: A month after the Congress lost the Assembly polls and he had to resign as CM, an alleged property irregularity dating back to 1982, which pertains to a piece of land purchased by former CM Siddaramaiah in 1997 and sold in 2003, has now emerged as a headache for Mr Siddaramaiah. The Principal Senior Civil Judge on June 4, had reportedly directed Lakshmipuram police here to investigate and submit a report as per section 156 (3) of CRPC by July 23, in the 37  year old land  irregularity involving Siddaramaiah, ex-chairman of MUDA, C Basavegowda, chairman  MUDA, D Dhruvakumar and MUDA Commissioner Mr P.S. Kantharaju

The court passed the order following a complaint by RTI activist N Gangadhar on June 2. Gangadhar had reportedly approached the Governor seeking permission under article 154 of the Constitution to prosecute them under sections 120B, 197, 166, 17, 19, 200, 417 409, 420 and 468 of IPC in April this year. But a letter dated May 3, 2018 from the Governor’s office stated permission is not required and hence the complaint was filed on June 2.

According to Mr Gangaraju, “On April 8, 1981, the MUDA issued a notification excluding 30 guntas of land owned by Saakamma, Sunanda, Annaiah under survey number 70/4B in Vijaynagar second stage from acquisition though the property in question was in the MUDA plan in July 22, 1982. Later on  October 6, 1997, MUDA passed a notification to exempt the property from acquisition. A khata was done for the said property in 1997 in Hinkal Gram Panchayat. On October 22, 1997, Saakamma filed an application before the Mysuru DC for  conversion of agricultural land to build a house and got permission on November 22, 1997,” he said.

He added, “On December 5, 1997, Saakamma sold 10 guntas of the land to Mr Siddaramaiah. But on May 2, 1998, the approval of the plan and licence for construction of the house was obtained from MUDA and not the gram panchayat. Mr Siddaramaiah sold off the property on September 29, 2003 for Rs 1 crore,” he claimed. Krishna, son of Annaiah, pplied to MUDA in November 2017 claiming an alternative site for the property which had not been acquired by MUDA. He was allotted a 60x40 site in April 2018! It was then that Gangaraju filed the RTI and complained in this regard. When contacted Mysuru City Police Commissioner Dr A Subramanyeswar Rao said “We are yet to receive an official communication in this regard. Once we receive it, we will abide by the court’s order,” he said. According to noted senior advocate Mr Arun Kumar, there has to be an FIR before the case is investigated and a report submitted.