‘We won’t allow any move to weaken Ayukta Act’

Former minister, S. Suresh Kumar, a politician liked by all, who once resigned from his minister’s post after allegations cropped up against him, has launched a political battle against the ruling Congress on the ‘wrongdoings’ of BDA. The BDA, he asserts, is charging exorbitant rates for sites developed and sold by it, the latest case being that of Kempegowda Layout. He was critical of the Congress’ attempts to build a case against Upalokayukta Justice Subhash Adi and denied that the BJP was doing anything to defend Justice Adi. Excerpts from an interview:

The BDA issue could not be raised as I did not have enough material at that point. During the 10-day Legislature session, three days were devoted to paying condolences to legislators. Five days were reserved for the debate on drought. We spent one day on the garbage mess and the last day was spent on social welfare minister, H. Anjaneya's Cash for contract scam. That is why we could not raise this issue.

My effort is to ensure that the BDA becomes accountable and transparent. The BDA must come out in the open to disclose how much money they have collected by selling applications or collecting deposits from each applicant who has applied for a site. This struggle is also to prevent the BDA from becoming another real estate company. The BDA is charging Rs 2,000, Rs 2,200 and Rs 2,400 per sq.ft. With such high rates, one can easily say that BDA sites are not affordable for the common Bengalurean. My second struggle is to get justice for middle class citizens who have borrowed and deposited money with the BDA. This middle class citizen should get bank interest rates on the deposit.

I agree that BJP was responsible for increasing the land acquisition price. But the BDA is charging more than 150 per cent of the total cost borne by the agency to form a layout. For instance if the land is acquired for Rs 1 crore per acre, the final cost including that of acquisition comes to around Rs 850 to Rs 900 sq. ft. However, the BDA is charging Rs 2,000 or Rs 2,200 or Rs 2,400 per sq.ft. Middle-class citizens cannot afford this, this will help only private developers as those who could not get sites from BDA have to go to private builders. My effort is to reduce the BDA site cost drastically.

Justice Adi is capable of defending himself, he does not need my or BJP's support. I am fighting this based on the amended Lokayukta Act, which says an impeachment motion will be approved by the presiding officer (Speaker or Chairman) only after verifying ‘evidence’ submitted to him.

The sequence of events prompted me to take up this issue. Though, I am not in conflict with Speaker, Kagodu Thimmappa, I would like to point to some facts as they unfolded in the last couple of weeks. On Nov. 23, Congress legislators signed a petition seeking impeachment of Justice Adi. In the meantime, a team of very senior advocates such as B.V. Acharya and Udaya Holla met the Speaker and demanded that no action should be initiated against Justice Adi. On Nov. 26, I wrote a letter to the Speaker seeking copies of documents attached to the motion. I met him on Nov. 27 to ask for these copies but before I received anything, the motion was approved by the Speaker. As a member of the Assembly, I should have known on what basis the motion was moved.

The cases involving Justice Rao and Justice Adi are totally different. In the case of Justice Rao, it was his son, Ashwin who was involved and the place which was used to blackmail officers, was the official residence of Justice Rao. As soon as this case came out in the open, Justice Rao should have displayed moral responsibility and resigned. None other than former Lokayukta Justice Santhosh Hegde came out on the street opposing Justice Rao’s continuance in office. In fact, the Bar Council moved a resolution against him. Instead of resigning, Justice Rao went on leave for more than 100 days. Under these circumstances, BJP took up this issue. Prominent lawyers came out in support of Justice Adi, moreover there was no demand from any quarter for Justice Adi's resignation, except from the ruling Congress.

There is a set procedure for the Lokayukta appointment. The BJP responded positively when the ruling party came out with the name of Justice Anand for Upalokayukta. We will see what names they suggest, then the opposition will decide what to do.

Our major concern pertains to the efforts being made to close down the Lokayukta institution by bringing a new Act. We hear that the present dispensation is in favour of excluding maladministration from the ambit of the Lokpal, if any such move is made, we will oppose it. Ultimately, Karnataka Lokayukta Act is a model to others. How can BJP allow it to be weakened?

We are completely focused on the MLC elections. At this juncture, I can only say that the decision will be taken keeping the 2018 Assembly elections in mind. Before electing a president, elections to the booth and block level units need to take place. Several names including that of former chief minister, B. S. Yeddyurappa are doing the rounds.

Swachh Bharat is a great initiative. Somehow, due to other engagements such as the Assembly wise training programmes, we could not to sustain the initiative. Prime Minister, Narendra Modi had said that party workers must dedicate 100 hours of their time per year to this. I agree that this initiative should become part of the party worker’s life.

I agree that we should have been more assertive and more active. People's expectations from us are very high. However, we have not failed entirely. We have raised several issues, be it the issue of IAS officer D.K. Ravi, farmer suicides, drought or even the Lokayukta issue. With a former chief minister as leader of the Opposition in the Legisative Assembly, we need to improve ourselves.