CM accused of denotifying land to favour Manyata director

Mangalore Today News Network

Bangalore, Jan 22, 2015, DHNS: One of the complaints filed with the Justice H S Kempanna Commission, which is probing the Arkavathi layout land scam, accuses Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of colluding with BDA Commissioner T Sham Bhat to denotify 2.37 acres of prime land to favour Manyata Tech Park Director Tejraj Gulecha.

The complaint filed by advocate Anandamurthy R has accused Gulecha of obtaining General Power of Attorney (GPA) from agriculturists “who had accepted the acquisition of  2002 in 2010”. It says Gulecha “peddled his way through the Siddaramaiah government and managed to get deletion of huge and expensive land” at Rachenahalli.

According to sources, the total extent of land denotified towards Gulecha is 2.37 acres.

The land is said to be located just beside Manyata Tech Park. The estimated market value of the land in the vicinity is between Rs 7,000 and Rs 8,000 per sq ft. It is said that B S Yeddyurappa, too, had denotified a piece of land near Manyata Tech Park.

Tejraj Gulecha was appointed the Additional Director of Manyata Projects Private Limited in December 2013.

The complainant has also submitted three annexures to the commission, which include a letter of the BDA commissioner dated March 27, 2014, the GPAs in the name of Tejraj Gulecha and court orders pertaining to Tejraj Gulecha.

It is said in the complaint that Gulecha had obtained court orders to consider his case. The court had directed that only his land be considered for deletion, but Gulecha used the case to get other lands deleted.

Anandamurthy has stated in the complaint that as per the BDA board resolutions available on record — resolution no. 92/06, 15/07, 381/11 and 79/13 — there has been an increase in the quantum of land deleted from Arkavathi Layout. The quantum of land has increased from 140 acres in 2006 to 578 acres in 2013 and 700 acres in 2014.

The complainant has said the gazette by the State government, issuing a modified plan of the Arkavathi layout, dated April 3, 2014, and June 18, 2014, is in contravention of the 2006 observations made by the BDA commissioner.

The complainant said the then Commissioner had personally inspected the land and said only 140 acres qualify for deletion as the land falls within the six guidelines prescribed by the division bench of the High Court and upheld by the Supreme Court in 2010. The total extent of land is placed at 1,766 acres as on June 18 2014. It was 2,750 acres when it was notified in 2005.

The complainant has appealed to the Commission to consider the deletion of lands in the layout as being in violation of the orders of the High Court and Supreme Court, apart from holding the various resolutions of BDA bearing nos 92/06/ 15/7 and 79/13 and other connected resolutions as being illegal and invalid.