Denotification case: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah likely to get clean chit in Arkavathy
Bengaluru: In a huge boost to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, whom the BJP is intent on targeting on corruption charges, a one-man commission may have absolved the Congress leader of charges of wrongdoing in the denotification of Arkavathy Layout case.
The one-man commission, headed by Justice Kempanna, submitted its findings in the form of a report to the state government on Wednesday. Although the findings had been submitted in a sealed cover, informed sources said that the "Redo" done by the CM in the Arkavathy Layout were done in accordance with the law laid down by the government as suggested by Karnataka High Court and the guidelines of the Supreme Court.
Sources in the commission told Deccan Chronicle that there were no terms of reference regarding person/s responsible for denotification and at whose instance it was done. Therefore, the commission only looked into procedural lapses, if any, rather than person/s who had done it. Under these circumstances, it would be very difficult for the panel to name any person or persons.
Although 85 petitions had been submitted to the commission, only 45 documents were considered but none of them appeared for oral submission before the commission. Almost all of them had engaged advocates who took part during the submission of arguments. Former Commissioner of BDA and four existing land acquisition officers had been summoned before the commission. Section 48 gives power to the government to denotify land after it considers that it was no more required for public purpose but had to give reasons for it.
Another interesting aspect that the commission observed was that no land shall be denotified without taking the actual possession of it. The biggest respite may be for those who were allotted sites but the land had been denotified as the commission has reportedly recommended to provide them alternative sites in other layouts. The state government is likely to make the report public after studying it in detail.
