Lokayukta court summons BSY, DKS

Mangalore Today News Network

Bangalore, July 5, 2012: Private plaints allege illegal denotification, conversion of land

The Special Lokayukta Court on Thursday issued summons to former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, Congress leader D K Shivakumar and others in the private complaints alleging illegal denotification and conversion of land in Benniganahalli on the outskirts of Bangalore.

The court, which took cognisance of the charge sheet filed in the cases, also ordered summons to Purvankara Builders represented by Girish Purvankara; Hanumanth, a retired tahsildar; K S Chandrashekharaiah, a retired revenue inspector and Doddahanumaiah, a village accountant.

Summons to Ramegowda, then special deputy commissioner and Hameed Ali, then senior sub-registrar have not been issued pending sanction from competent authorities. The case has been posted to August 2.

Judge N K Sudhindra Rao observed that Yeddyurappa appeared to have ignored the circumstances under which denotification could have been made. “Prima facie there are materials to proceed against him,” the judge ruled.

Yeddyurappa’s name though mentioned in the complaints, had been dropped from the charge sheet as the police stated that there was no evidence of premeditation when he denotified the land.

D K Shivakumar is charged with illegal conversion and denotification of 4.1 acres in Benniganahalli.

Purvankara Builders, who entered into a joint development agreement with D K Shivakumar for the development of notified land, were also brought into the ambit of the case. The summons to Purvankara follows statements made by the Builders themselves. In one instance, Nani R Choksey, the Deputy Managing Director of Purvankara had stated they were never aware of the existence of the The Karnataka Land (Restriction on Transfer) Act, 1991.

 “The company has been in the real estate business for the last 26 years, but they say they were never aware of the Act. As on 2004, 73 per cent of the land was sold by D K Shivakumar to Prudential Housing, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Purvankara Builders, for bringing up apartments. This is a prima facie violation of The Karnataka Land (Restriction on Transfer) Act, 1991 and violation of the norms and public property,” the court observed.

Rejecting the arguments of one of the complainants, Kabbalegowda, the judge ruled out the inclusion of MLC Lehar Singh in the case.

The court directed the Lokayukta police to continue investigations into allegations of irregularities in five housing societies of Jayanagar, Shanthinagar, Bhavani, Vyalikaval and National Technological Institutions (NTI).

The case

Two private complaints had been filed by T J Abraham and Kabbalegowda in the Special Lokayukta Court concerning the same instance of denotification of land.

According to the complaint, Shivakumar had purchased 5.11 acres of land in survey number 50/2 of Benniganahalli off Old Madras road on December 18, 2003 from B K Srinivas, the original owner of the land. But this land was notified in 1986 for the formation of NGEF (East) Layout.

Of the 5.11 acres, a total of 4.2 acres were converted from agricultural to industrial use in 1942 and the conversion certificate was issued by the tahsildar in 1962.

On February 17, 2004, Shivakumar made a formal representation to the Special Deputy Commissioner (Bangalore district) seeking conversion of 4.1 acres for residential purposes and 0.1 acre for developing a park. Ramegowda, then special DC, gave the nod, with the rider that the land should be denotified by Bangalore Development Authority.

At the time of the conversion of land and the agreement with Purvankara Builders, D K Shivakumar was minister for Urban Development.

He also entered into a joint development agreement with Purvankara builders for the construction of an apartment complex even before the land was denotified. The total guidance value of the apartment complex is estimated to be Rs 79.22 crore.

The land was eventually denotified on May 13, 2010 by the then chief minister B S Yeddyurappa. The complaint states that the denotification was made in the name of Srinivas, the original land owner who had died in 2004.

HC grants advance bail

The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday granted anticipatory bail to Congress legislator D K Shivakumar for four days in the Benniganahalli land denotification case.
Justice Subhash B Adi directed Shivakumar to file a bail petition before the Lokayukta Court, since private complaints had been filed before that court. The Court directed Shivakumar to furnish a bond for Rs two lakh and a suret

Courtesy: DHNS