A fresh complaint was filed before the Special Lokayukta Court on Wednesday against the former Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda and seven bureaucrats, including Chief Secretary S.V. Ranganath.
The complainant, C.R. Nagaraj, has alleged that the State Cabinet led by Mr. Gowda had allotted six acres of land to an educational trust in contempt of orders passed by the High Court and Supreme Court.
While Mr. Gowda has been listed as the prime accused, Mr. Ranganath is accused number 2, followed by Principal Revenue Secretary Ashok Manoli, Bangalore Urban Deputy Commissioner M.K. Aiyappa, KAS officer G.S. Naik, the former Bangalore Development Authority Commissioner Bharat Lal Meena, BDA Executive Engineer Venugopal Rao and the Managing Trustee of the Buddha Education Trust K. Chandrashekar.
The alleged scam occurred on a piece of land that had been divided into 910 housing plots and allotted to economically backward people by the State government in 1975.
In April 2003, the entire colony was notified for acquisition by the BDA. Even before the final notification orders could be passed, the BDA allotted 10 acres of land to two educational institutions, including the Buddha Education Trust. The residents of the area challenged this allotment on the grounds that it was “illegal” and went to court.
The High Court ruled in favour of the residents, termed the allotment illegal and directed the government to allot an alternate plot to the educational institutions. The trusts and the government went on appeal and lost in the Supreme Court.
The Buddha Education Trust once again moved the High Court in 2009 and sought allotment of the same piece of land whose allotment had been termed illegal by the High Court.
But this time, the court issued an order directing the government to consider the matter in accordance with the law. Mr. Naik allegedly suppressed the earlier observations of the High Court and Supreme Court and recommended the allotment of six acres to the Buddha Education Trust. Based on his recommendation, the State Cabinet passed an allotment order in favour of the Trust on June 26, 2012 when Sadananda Gowda was at the helm.
Although the complainant has not been able to establish that the bureaucrats and the Chief Minister gained personally on account of the allotment, he said that the action was a “special favour” and involved misuse of power. The case has been posted to October 17.
