Land denotification case: HC notice to BS Yeddyurappa, Jagadeesh Shettar and R Ashok
Bengaluru: Allegations of illegal denotification of lands continue to haunt former BJP chief ministers B.S. Yeddyurappa and Jagadeesh Shettar, former home minister R Ashok and others.
The Karnataka HC on Friday ordered issuance of emergent notice to them and others including state government, represented by chief secretary, principal secretary to urban development department, BDA and few others.
The court was hearing a petition seeking directions to Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to re-investigate a complaint alleging illegal denotification of land by the then chief minister Yeddyurappa, acquired by BDA to benefit Ashok.
It is alleged that the denotification was done illegally, despite officials advising against it. The BDA had acquired 18 guntas of land (survey number 10/1) at Lottegollarahalli for Rajmahal Vilas II Phase through a notification on April 23, 1988.
Initially, the land owners had sought for denotification of the unutilized 9.73 guntas. But their plea was not considered, and eventually in February 2003, the owners sold it to Ashok for a lesser price, the petition stated.
It further stated that despite officials ruling out the possibility of denotification, Yeddyurappa, then the CM, asked for the file and based on his orders, the land was denotified on December 31, 2009.
The petitioner, Wing Commander G.B. Athri, stated that after obtaining documents through RTI, he had lodged a complaint before ACB. However, the ACB had replied that after obtaining opinion from the legal experts and in the light of the ‘B’ Report filed before the Special Court for Lokayukta in relation to complaint filed by Jayakumar Hiremath, they cannot, except on special circumstances, investigate the allegation and closed the complaint.
Thereafter, the petitioner stated that he clarified the special circumstances of the case to Deputy Superintendent of Police, ACB and when there no response, the petitioner has approached the HC seeking directions to re-investigate the complaint.
