A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party accused Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of facilitating denotification of prime land worth around ₹300 crore in Bhoopasandra by “suppressing facts” in court to help his aide, Mr. Siddaramaiah countered the allegations saying they were “baseless, frivolous, and politically motivated”. He is now contemplating legal action against the BJP for attempting to “tarnish his image”.
“The BJP is trying to mislead the people. It is under the impression that this will benefit them politically for the coming elections. But the allegations are baseless. So far, during my tenure as Chief Minister, I have not approved any case of denotification,” he said on Wednesday.
“The allegation is that I have written “examine and discuss” on the document pertaining to the so-called denotification,” said Mr. Siddaramaiah. “But the fact is that I have written “examine and discuss” on the letter given by our party MLA, Vasanth Bangera, pertaining to only regularisation of four revenue sites. If anyone gives me a letter seeking anything, it is obvious that I will write “examine and discuss” (for the officials) as I would not have all the information at hand.”
The Chief Minister asserted that he had not asked the Bangalore Development Authority to refrain from challenging the appeal filed in the High Court by the land losers against the final notification. “The BDA has withdrawn it based on the Law Department’s opinion that it is not a fit case to file an appeal as the entire land acquired had not been developed,” he said, adding that the BJP had no documents to prove the allegations against him.
Although 131.33 acres had been accquired and the final notification was issued only for 108.17 acres, layout formation was done only on 13.36 acres of land. Of the 234 sites formed, only 132 had been allotted. In the wake of this, the court opined that the BDA had failed to utilise the acquired land and hence the scheme had lapsed, the CM explained.
Set record straight: kin
Meanwhile, the kin of the landowner to whom 6.32 acres of land acquired by the BDA for formation of RMV Second Phase Extension was restored, served an ultimatum of one week to BJP leader B.J. Puttaswamy to clear them from the controversy by setting the records straight.
“If the BJP leader fails to clear us from the controversy within a week, then we will initiate legal action, including filing a defamation suit,” the lawyer for Mr. Krishnaprasad, son of landowner Jayalakshmamma, said at a press conference here on Wednesday.
Legal counsel Sunildat Yadav denied Mr. Puttaswamy’s allegations that the Supreme Court’s earlier verdict against denotification of land acquired for formation of RMV Second Phase Extension had been suppressed from the Karnataka High Court, which had allowed restoring land to his client in 2016.
Pointing out that the BDA had developed only 13 acres of the total 108 acres acquired for the layout in 1983, he said the High Court had ruled in favour of the landowner on the grounds of “time lapse scheme”, considering the in-ordinate delay.
