The Supreme Court appointed committee, which is looking into lawful constructions made on land notified for formation Shivaram Karanth Layout prior to August 3, 2018, has served a show cause notice to Kodihalli Chandrashekar of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) for allegedly spreading misinformation and dissuading people from submitting building documents.
Sources said that the committee is in possession of a video clip of Mr. Chandrashekar allegedly addressing a large gathering of people and appealing to them not to submit information to the committee. The committee has also reportedly accessed a social media message where Mr Chandrashekar allegedly appealed to people in 17 villages not to share details.
According to sources, the committee is of the view that his messages prima facie amount to contempt of the Supreme Court, causing confusion and misguiding people and obstructing the work of the committee.
Mr. Chandrashekar admitted that he had received a notice from the committee.
From March 1, the committee had started accepting documents from the general public who had built buildings on the notified land. To spread awareness among villagers, announcements were made using autorickshaws fitted with mikes and by issuing pamphlets. However, during the awareness campaign, the committee realised that some people were spreading misinformation, and warned that action would be taken against those involved.
The committee is headed by Justice (retd.) A.V. Chandrashekar, and has former DGP of the State S.T. Ramesh and former BDA commissioner Jayakar Jerome as members. It had said that around 7,500 structures were built between 2008 and 2018.
Additional help desks
Three more help desks to facilitate submission of documents by building owners will be functional by March 15. In a press release on Tuesday, the committee said that the new help desks at Ambedkar Samudaya Bhavana at Somashettihalli, Government Higher Primary School at Byalakere and Ambedkar Samudaya Bhavan at Singanayakanahalli will receive applications between 10.30 a.m. and 4.30 p.m (barring holidays).
A help desk at Urdu Primary School at Medi Agrahara, which falls under the limits of Vaderahalli grama panchayat, is already functioning. Building owners can also submit documents online at jcc-skl.in.
