Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is accusing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of “denotifying” land acquired for the Arkavathi Layout by Bangalore Development Authority, party leader and former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar has been accused of sanctioning to an individual 4 acres of land earmarked for “public and semi-public purposes”, 13 days prior to the announcement of the Assembly elections.
At a press conference here on Tuesday, M. Nagaraj, secretary of the Vokkaligara Sangha, and A. Prasad, its director and legal adviser, alleged that the Shettar government sanctioned the land in Srigandhadakaval village to Sundaresh on April 22, 2013.
Mr. Nagaraj said the land was valued as an “agricultural land” at Rs. 1.50 crore an acre and Mr. Sundaresh was asked to remit Rs. 6 crore as its value, far less that its “real value” estimated at Rs. 80 crore.
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Mr. Prasad questioned the rationale of sanctioning land within 12-km radius of the Bangalore city because the Karnataka Land Grant Rules prohibits sanctioning of land within a radius of 16 km.
Mr. Prasad claimed that the land sanctioned to Mr. Sundaresh was part of 47.11 acres in Srigandhadakaval which belonged to sangha and Golden Valley Education Trust. The land was sanctioned to them by the government in 1967, he said.
Mr. Sundaresh claimed the land as “alternative” to the land sanctioned to his father, Suryanarayana Rao, a freedom fighter, by the government in 1967. After protracted legal and administrative disputes, the government told the Karnataka High Court that it was ready to consider Mr. Sundaresh’s appeal. Application submitted by him on March 12, 2013, was discussed in the Cabinet and it was decided to sanction the 4 acres, he said.
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