Retired High Court judge to probe Arkavathy, CM Siddaramaiah dodges CBI lens

Bengaluru: In a move that was clearly meant to thwart the opposition's demand for a CBI inquiry, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday announced that a retired judge of the High Court of Karnataka would be appointed to conduct the judicial probe into alleged de-notification of land acquired for formation of the Arkavathy Layout in Bengaluru.

The terms of reference for the probe will indicate whether the ambit of the probe will be limited only to this particular scandal or whether he can widen the probe and turn the tables on the BJP. Mr Siddaramaiah said that the probe would be conducted from 2003 when the preliminary notification for 3,839 acres was filed to the day that the revised modification scheme was submitted to the High Court of Karnataka.

The probe will begin from the day the preliminary notification was issued to form this Layout, to the date when he became the opposition’s target, he also said. Taking a dig at his predecessors, he said that, especially in the last five years, chief ministers who preceded him, had de-notified 943 acre of land from the same layout.

“Let the truth come out through this judical probe. The impartial judicial probe will certainly vindicate my point of view on this purported scam, which is being highlighted by the BJP for the last three days,” the CM said.

“The Chief Justice’s opinion on the appointment of a retired high court judge to probe the matter has been sought,” the CM added.

When asked why he was hesitant about handing the case over to the CBI, the CM said that the BJP did not have the moral right to make such a demand. “It had not handed a case as important as the illegal Bellary mining case to the CBI. Until our party was in power, they (BJP) even referred to the CBI as Congress Bureau of Investigation, but now all of a sudden they have developed love towards the investigation agency,” he declared.