Judge in Jayalalitha case in soup over sites

Bengaluru: Justice C.R. Kumaraswamy, who passed a landmark judgment acquitting Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha from her disproportionate asset case recently, has been accused of acquiring valuable immovable properties in Bengaluru and Mysuru through Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), Karnataka Housing Board (KHB), Karnataka State Judicial Employees Housing Society by violating certain norms in the site allotment rules and house building society bye-laws.

The accusations were made by a group of RTI activists and advocates under the banner of Karnataka Brastachara Nirmoolana Vedike, a forum for eradication of corruption in the state.

The accusations ironically came on the day that Justice Kumaraswamy retired from office on Monday, which was his working day. The forum has posted the complaint to the President of India, the Supreme Court Chief Justice of India and the High Court, Chief justice of Karnataka seeking to conduct a detailed enquiry and initiate appropriate legal proceedings against Justice Kumaraswamy for the irregularities.

According to the forum, documents obtained under the Right To Information (RTI) reveal that Justice Kumaraswamy was allotted a flat No. 180, HIG B-3, First Floor, Block 100 in Kengeri 3rd stage by the Karnataka Housing Board in 1997 while he was serving as a district and sessions judge in Kolar, after which he submitted one more application to the board seeking allotment for a house under High Income Group (HIG) at Hootagally Colony in KHB Colony, Mysuru in 2001. It's alleged that Justice Kumaraswamy while working as district and sessions judge in Bellary then, got the Kengeri flat allotment cancelled and acquired the independent house in Hootagally Colony in Mysuru on exchange.

In the year 2005, Kumaraswamy's wife M.N. Nagarathnamma who had applied for a BDA site since 1987, in her 6th attempt got a plot measuring 30x40 allotted to her in Jnanabharathi Layout, Block 1 in Valagerahalli.

Nagarathnamma had worked as a first division assistant in the Karnataka State Khadhi and Village Industries Board. “In her application and declaration to the BDA, she had concealed the facts about the allotment/cancellation of their Kengeri flat and acquisition of the independent house in Hootagally Colony in Mysuru by her husband Kumaraswamy,” said A.R.S. Kumar, RTI activist and advocate adding that the BDA officials went ahead and allotted site no. 1007 to Nagarathnamma in  2005.

Justice C.R. Kumaraswamy

“In the same year, Kumaraswamy according to his voluntary disclosure on the Karnataka High Court website mentioned that he had bought a flat in Divya Manor Apartments on Venkataswamy Raju Road in Palace Guttahalli in Kumarapark West for '29,47,500,” said Kumar.

“In 2006, the Karnataka Judicial Employees Housing Building Co-Operative Society Limited went ahead and alloted site no. 176 measuring 4000 square feet in Judicial Layout, Phase 2 in Shivanagar to Kumaraswamy, violating allotment rules and bye-laws of the House Building Co-Operative Society,” added Kumar.

The members of the forum alleged that the judge had not only violated the bye-laws and allotment rules, but also concealed the facts about owning immovable property within the state and the city.

“In the documents that we have obtained under RTI, it's a prima facie case that Kumaraswamy and his wife had acquired immovable properties in Bengaluru and Mysuru and we are requesting for an impartial probe and initiate appropriate legal proceedings against him and others whoever are involved,” said K.H. Ramalinga Reddy, president of the forum.