The Karnataka cabinet, on Thursday, passed a resolution to advise the governor to withdraw the show cause notice issued to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah regarding the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment scam involving his wife B.M. Parvati and reject a complaint filed against the CM by an RTI activist alleging massive irregularities in MUDA.
Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot had issued a show cause notice to the chief minister a day after a delegation of BJP and JD(S) legislators gave him a memorandum demanding a CBI probe into the scam and pressed for the CM's resignation. On July 26, RTI activist T.J. Abraham, in his complaint to the governor, sought sanction to prosecute the chief minister alleging that Siddaramaiah’s family was involved in the scam as 14 alternative compensatory sites were illegally allotted to CM’s wife on January 5, 2022, causing a loss of Rs 45 crore to the state’s coffers.
Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who chaired the cabinet meeting after being authorised by the CM, said the governor had issued the show cause notice in “undue haste” and “ignoring” the procedural requirement on July 26, soon after Abraham filed a complaint.
“The cabinet has discussed threadbare the issue of issuance of show cause notice to the CM and taking note of the entire factual matrix and the settled legal position, the cabinet has unanimously resolved to advise the governor to withdraw the notice. There is neither any investigation nor any evidence to suggest that the CM is involved in the MUDA irregularities. On July 15, the governor had sought a report from the chief secretary on the MUDA irregularities and suggested a judicial inquiry into the alleged irregularities,” Shivakumar said.
“Accordingly, the CM set up a judicial commission of Justice P.N. Desai to investigate the case. The petitioner T.J. Abraham filed his petition before the governor on July 26. The chief secretary also sent a report regarding this on the same day. But the governor has issued a show cause notice without taking into consideration the report sent by the chief secretary. The governor has issued a notice in haste. This is a gross misuse of the Constitutional office of the governor. It is a murder of democracy and the Constitution. We suspect this is a ploy by the BJP to pull down a democratically elected government with a thumping majority of 136 seats.”
Shivakumar said the CM’s wife was well within her right as someone who lost land to seek alternative sites as compensation as per the existing law.
Further, he defended the CM’s family saying, “CM’s brother-in-law purchased the said land five years after the denotification and gifted it to his sister through a gift deed. But the Muda developed this land without re-notifying it and distributed to others. After CM’s wife asked for compensation from MUDA, they realised the mistake and decided to issue compensation on a 50:50 basis. When this decision was taken, all the members of Muda were from BJP and JD(S) including G.T. Deve Gowda and Ramadas as it happened during the BJP rule,” alleged Shivakumar.
Earlier, Siddaramaiah, in his defence, had claimed that his family property in Kesare village measuring 3 acres and 16 guntas had been "illegally" acquired by MUDA, which later allotted 14 alternative sites as compensation at Vijayanagar. “We did not ask MUDA to allot sites in the upmarket Vijayanagar layout. We will return the sites if MUDA pays us the current value of our land—Rs 62 crore,” said Siddaramaiah.
Meanwhile, the BJP and JD(S) are preparing for an eight-day padayatra from Bengaluru to Mysuru claiming that it would draw people’s attention to the massive scam in allotment of sites and “gross misuse of power” by the chief minister.
Shivakumar, who is also the KPCC chief, stated that the BJP and JD(S) were free to take out the padayatra, but they could not make a case against the CM as no rule was flouted. “In fact, it was the BJP government which was in power when CM’s wife was allotted alternative sites. We will also expose the 30-odd scams that occurred during the BJP rule,” said Shivakumar.
Allegations against CM
1992: MUDA issues preliminary notification to acquire land owned by Devaraj Bin Ninga alias Javara.
1997: MUDA takes custody of the land and deposits relief in court.
1998: Only 3.16 acres of Sy No. 464, Kesare village in Mysuru district gets de-notified, despite there being no proposal from MUDA or the land owner.
2004: B.M. Mallikarjunaswamy, brother-in-law of Siddaramaiah, buys the land from Devaraj Bin Ninga alias Javara, which is said to be unlawful as there are three legal heirs/sons to the original owner.
2005: Mallikarjunaswamy applies for change of land use and secures conversion of land from agriculture into residential purpose from DC office for a land that was already developed in 1990s.
2009: MUDA introduces 50:50 scheme.
2010: Mallikarjunaswamy gifts the land to Parvati in the name of ‘Arishina – Kunkuma’ custom, raising questions over Mallikarjuna’s financial capacity.
2013: Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act are passed.
2014: Parvathi applies for compensation from MUDA stating that 3.16 acres of land belonging to her in Kesare village near Outer Ring Road, has been developed by MUDA without her knowledge. MUDA admits they have developed sites on the (Devanur 3rd Stage) in 2002 on Parvati’s land.
2020: High Court directs MUDA to return land to the original owner. 50:50 scheme is scrapped by BJP government.
In 2021, MUDA, under its 50:50 scheme for land-losers, ordered the allotment of 14 residential sites measuring a total of 38,284 sq. ft in the upscale Vijayanagar 3rd and 4th stages instead of Devanur layout, despite the latter having several vacant sites. The BJP alleged the market value of the land in a prime area like Vijayanagar is much higher than that of Devanur layout.
In March and November 2023, MUDA's modus operandi of site allotment scam was exposed. Dr K.V. Rajendra IAS, the former Mysuru D.C and Chairman of MUDA who alerted the state government about procedural lapses in the allotment of sites in other developed areas on a 50:50 sharing basis to compensate land owners.
On March 14, 2023, based on DC’s letter, the Urban Development Department (UDD) secretary directed MUDA to halt the allocation/distribution of sites to land owners in alternative areas developed under a 50:50 sharing basis. But the UDD and MUDA authorities ignored the reports and continued with the allotments. These sites were allegedly de-notified and dropped from the acquisition list. The state govt is said to have incurred a loss of more than Rs 5,000 crore, alleged BJP.
July 2024: Government order institutes inquiry into site allotments; BJP protests outside CM's office, demanding his resignation and a CBI inquiry.
July 15, 2024: Governor seeks a report from the government.
July 26: The BJP and RTI activist T.J. Abraham give separate memorandum to the governor seeking CBI probe into the scam. Abraham also seeks sanction to prosecute the chief minister.
