The Bengaluru district Congress has filed a complaint with the Lokayukta against Home Minister R. Ashok on account of the bagair hukum land allocation scandal. The Congress leaders led by former minister Kagodu Thimmappa and district Congress president T.R. Srinivas met the Upalokayukta, Justice S. B. Majage, in this connection but he apparently sent them back saying the matter would come under the purview of a Lokayukta.
The Congress has alleged that when Mr Ashoka was an MLA, he had ensured allotment of bagair hukum land (cultivation of agricultural property without permit) to corporators, former corporators and the present mayor and deputy mayor. The complaint has submitted the copy of the notification of the committee for regularisation of bagair hukum lands at a meeting held on July 1999. The allegation is that members of the committee —Vijayalakshmi, Marappa, S.C. Muniswamy and J. Anthony Swamy — are Mr Ashoka’s supporters. The tahasildar of Bengaluru south taluk had attended the meeting as secretary.
“The decision to regularise such huge land was taken with only three members signing, apart from the president of the committee, R. Ashoka. Though some eligible farmers’ lands were regularised, huge land was allotted to ineligible people, who were all supporters of then MLA Mr Ashoka. So much so, that the wife of RSS Bengaluru city in-charge Mr Chidanandamurthy too has been allotted two acres of land,” Congress leader T.R. Srinivas said. The complaint alleged that special tahasildar of Bengaluru south had issued a false certificate stating that the land regularised was in fact just 12 km from the 100 ft ring road off Kanakapura ring road.
In one instance, the beneficiary, Karthik, son of one Suguna, was not a major when the regularisation took place. The complaint alleged that Karthik’s father was a former corporator. The complaint also accuses Rajarajeshwarinagar MLA, M. Srinivas, of getting 25 acres of land in his son S. Venkatesh Babu’s name. Venkatesh Babu is the president of BBMP’s standing committee on health.
When Mr Srinivas was the MLA, in 1993, land was allotted to people belonging to the scheduled caste, but Mr Srinivas allegedly got 25 acres of land registered in his son’s name.