A day after the Supreme Court made observations on the illegal allotments of Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) sites to multiple people, an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader in Bengaluru filed a complaint of dereliction of duty against Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra and BDA Commissioner Rajesh Gowda Friday.
The home minister was the beneficiary of an allotment of a government site after an existing allotment in south Bengaluru was cancelled and reallotted to the posh north Bengaluru RMV Extension area where a number of political leaders are residing.
The AAP leader, K Mathai who is a former Karnataka Administrative Services officer, has filed the complaint before the Karnataka Lokayukta.
The allotment was done in violation of rules that stipulate that plots in the developed layouts can be allotted by the BDA only through public auction and not through unilateral BDA decisions, the complaint said.
“Sri Araga Jnanendra, home minister, Government of Karnataka, has exerted undue influence on Sri Rajesh Gowda, IAS, Commissioner, Bangalore Development Authority, and has got allotted G category sites to himself and to three others against Hon’ble Supreme Court order dated 29 October 2021 and other orders,” states the complaint.
The Supreme Court order of October 26, 2021 said that sites formed in developed layouts must be allotted only through public auction but BDA has allotted sites in RMV IInd Stage to Araga Jnanendra and three others in place of sites allotted earlier in the HSR Layout, states the civil complaint lodged with the Karnataka Lokayukta.
A Supreme Court Bench of Justice S Abdul Nazeer and Justice Sanjiv Khanna Thursday said that BDA Commissioner Rajesh Gowda (an IAS officer ) cannot continue in his position on account of the allotments to the Home Minister and others in violation of the BDA rules.
The court was looking at the land acquisition for the Shivaram Karanth Layout being developed by the BDA. The case is posted for hearing on September 8.
Based on the Supreme Court observation, Mathai has stated that the Home Minister and the BDA commissioner are involved in corrupt practices and maladministration which comes within the jurisdiction of Karnataka Lokayukta.
In an order on October 26, 2021, the Supreme Court had pointed out that the BDA which is developing layouts through its own resources must auction sites in layouts that are already developed.
“It is true that for the formation of the Layout, BDA has to incur huge expenses. It is not disputed that the BDA has been taking possession of the land vested in it in the developed layouts. There is no bar for the BDA to form the sites in these recovered lands subject to the land use indicated in the approved layout plan and dispose of them by public auction,” the SC said.
“Needless to say, the sites formed in these lands, both intermediary and corner sites or any other intermediary sites in the developed layouts have to be disposed of only by public auction. Bangalore Development Authority (Allotment of Sites) Rules, 1984 are not applicable to the sites formed in the recovered properties or the intermediary sites in the developed layouts. These Rules are applicable only to the new layouts formed by the BDA,” the SC said.
On August 11, the BDA informed the court that it has allotted “96 sites in different layouts by way of alternative sites after the order dated 26.10.2021”.
“The BDA is directed to furnish in a tabular form the names and addresses of such allottees, the description and the layout in which the previous sites held by these allottees for which alternative sites have been allotted, description and the layout in which the alternative sites have been allotted, nature of allotment of previously held sites, whether possession was delivered to the allottees of the previous sites, the reasons for allotting alternative sites, the particulars of sale deeds executed in favor of the allottees with date, and other relevant description, and copies of the sale-deeds of the allottees, within 10 days,” the SC had ordered on August 11.
In its orders on Thursday, the Supreme Court directed the Justice A V Chandrashekhar committee (which is assisting the court in the matter) to examine the records pertaining to the 96 sites allotted after the October 26, 2021 order of the court, and to submit a report in this regard.
“We have also perused the affidavits dated 19.08.2022 and 22.08.2022 of the Commissioner, BDA, filed in terms of para 6 of this court’s order dated 11.08.2022. We request the Justice A V Chandrashekar Committee to examine the contents of the affidavits with reference to the original records maintained by the BDA and furnish a report to this court as expeditiously as possible. The Commissioner, BDA, is directed to furnish copies of the aforesaid along with annexures and the relevant records to the Justice AV Chandrashekar Committee forthwith,” the SC said.