Lokayukta orders probe into illegal grant of housing plots on govt. land

‘All permissions given post-2015 in urban areas of the district should be probed’

Taking suo motu cognisance of a report on the alleged connivance of officials in granting title deeds for house sites on government land to their relatives, under Section 94 CC of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act, Lokayukta P. Vishwanatha Shetty has directed Deputy Commissioner Sasikanth Senthil to investigate all grants made in urban areas of the district since 2015 when that section came into force.

“The object of Section 94 C and 94 CC of the Act is to give dwelling sites to persons who are in occupation of a house on government land and to poor persons. It is not intended to confer power on revenue officers to connive with their relatives and distribute public property without any justification,” Mr. Shetty said in his April 25 order.

“It is needless to point out that government land is required to be preserved for posterity and it cannot be lightly distributed to close relations/associates of revenue officials on extraneous circumstances,” he said.

The order was passed on an investigative report by the Mangaluru Lokayukta Police into an anonymous petition.

The petitioner had alleged that some revenue officers had illegally granted title deeds of sites on government land in Kodialbail, Padavu, and Jeppinamogaru to their relatives.

The report said that Ramesh, village assistant in Mangaluru A hobli, allegedly got title deeds for his wife Soumya R.N., his brother Mohan Gowda, and Mohan’s wife Namita by fabricating records that they were residents on government land in Kodialbail and Padavu villages in the city.

Similary, Mani Gram Panchayat member Preeti Dinna Pirera, sister of Mangaluru A hobli Revenue Inspector Joseph Walgat Pirera, allegedly got title deed by falsely producing records that she was a resident on government property in Kodialbail and Padavu.

Preeti’s son Lanvy Prajwal Pirera, who is staying abroad, was allegedly given the title deed for a government plot in Jeppinamogaru.

T.G. Guruprasad, Mangaluru tahsildar, is accused of flouting norms and granting title deeds without verifying whether these applicants were residents on the land mentioned, the report said.

Mr. Shetty has asked the report be submitted by July 29 while directing the authorities concerned to maintain status quo on the lands.