The land denotification ghost has come to haunt two former Chief Ministers of Karnataka, HD Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) and BJP leader and lingayat strongman BS Yeddyurappa as the State lokayukta police has filed an FIR against the two in land de-notification case.
Three graft cases have been filed against former CM BS Yeddyurappa for allegedly freeing the Government-controlled prime land in and around the city during his tenure (2008-11) against norms.
According to RTI documents, Kumaraswamy and Yeddyurappa have been made, respectively, the number one and number two accused in the case. Both former CMs are accused of denotifying a prime plot to benefit Kumaraswamy’s relative.
The CID had held a preliminary enquiry on the findings of a Comptroller and Auditor General of India report of 2012 on land denotification, carried out by the successive Governments from 2007-12 and had recently submitted its report to the lokayukta.
The report said the accused have prima facie played a stellar role in denotifying huge tracts of land, causing a financial loss to the exchequer.
The CAG report on “Denotification of lands by Government and allotment of sites by BDA (Bangalore Development Authority)” was tabled in the Karnataka legislative Assembly in 2012 when the BJP was the ruling party.
According to the CAG report, denotifications of about 40 lands were issued between 2007-2012 when Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) lawmaker HD Kumaraswamy was former CM of the JDS-BJP coalition Government in 2006-07 and Yeddyurappa’s tenure from May 2008 till July 2011.
The denotification of 610 acres and 16.5 acres of land, referred to in the CAG report, were ordered when both were the CMs and in-between during a period of Governor’s rule.
The FIRs were filed following a complaint filed by RTI activist Jayakumar Hiremath in 2012 to lokayukta, based on CAG report on denotification of land by Government and allotment of sites by the Bengaluru Development Authority. The case was transferred to the CID for preliminary investigations which highlighted illegal land denotifications between 2007 and 2012.
Meanwhile, the State Cabinet on Saturday decided to bring suitable amendment to the lokayukta Act and make it compulsory to submit performance report every year by October, Minister for law and Parliamentary Affairs TB Jayachandra told the media here.
He said that it was compulsory for the Government-aided institutions to submit their progress report. However, since this clause was missing in the lokayukta Act, an amendment will be made to introduce the same.