BN Bachchegowda grabbed land: Social worker SR Hiremath

Bangalore: Social worker S.R. Hiremath has released a set of documents against former BJP minister B.N. Bachchegowda and his family members who allegedly grabbed 200 acres of land allotted to SC/ST families in Shantanapura village at Hoskote taluk.

The documents released here on Monday, indicate that the former labour minister and his family members allegedly illegally grabbed 200 acres of land in survey number 9 in Shantanapura village by creating bogus and fabricated documents.

An inquiry team constituted by the regional commissioner has submitted a detailed report on the alleged grabbing of land by the former minister and his family and has indicted then tahsildar Dayananda Bhandari and his team for illegally allotting land to Bachchegowda and his family members.

The report prepared by the tahsildar and his team stated that the land in question was allotted to 50 scheduled caste families in 1970. But the same land was illegally allotted to Bachchegowda and his relatives B.N. Venkataramana Gowda, B.C. Chikkbachegowda, B.N. Gopalagowd and B.C. Venkataramanagowda.

The land was illegally allotted to the purchasers against the provisions of the Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prohibition of Transfer of Certain lands) Act, 1978, the inquiry committee stated in its report.

The Hoskote tahsildar too has submitted a report to the deputy commissioner of Bengaluru Rural district on November 2013 seeking action against errant officials who illegally allotted land to Bachchegowda and his family members.

The land in question is in the possession of Bachchegowda and his family, however there are no original records and documents pertaining to the land allottment.

Bachchegowda and his family members have in possession a title deed of 1969-70 to 2004 to 2005, but there is no mention in the document about how the land was allotted to them.

The original records state that the land was allotted to SC| STs and the title deed is also available, said the tahsildar’s report to the deputy commissioner.

Hiremath alleged that the government has not taken any action against the errant officers or recovered the land.

Hiremath also released documents on alleged irregularities committed by Chitra, daughter of S.M. Shankar, who is the brother of former external affairs minister S.M. Krishna.

In 2004 the Krishna government allotted 5.30 acres on a 30 year lease to Chitra, to start an educational institution at Shettihalli village in Yeshwantapur hobli.

Deccan Education society owned by Chitra has not paid the annual fee of Rs 5000 since the land was allotted, Hiremath alleged.