Land scam case will be filed against Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah: High Court upheld the order of the Governor, dismissed the petition of Siddaramaiah
A case will be filed against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the land scam case. The Karnataka High Court gave this order on Tuesday. The High Court said that the Governor of Karnataka had ordered an inquiry into the matter. It is true, the case needs investigation. Siddaramaiah had filed a petition in the High Court against the order of the Governor, which was rejected.
On August 17, Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot gave official permission to prosecute Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in a land-related corruption case. Siddaramaiah is accused of submitting fake documents to get compensation for Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) land.
On July 26, the Governor issued a notice and sought a reply from the CM within 7 days. On August 1, the Karnataka government advised the Governor to withdraw the notice and accused him of misusing constitutional powers.
A complaint has been filed against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, his wife, brother-in-law and some officials in the MUDA scam. Activists T.J. Abraham, Pradeep and Snehamayi Krishna allege that the CM in collusion with MUDA officials fabricated documents to fraudulently acquire expensive sites.
What is MUDA case In 1992, the urban development body Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) acquired some land from farmers to develop it into a residential area. In return, under MUDA’s Incentive 50:50 scheme, the acquired land owners were given 50% of the site in the developed land or an alternate site.
In 1992, MUDA denotified this land and separated it from agricultural land. In 1998, MUDA denotified a part of the acquired land and returned it to the farmers. That is, once again this land became agricultural land.
MUDA scam is related to 3 acres of land of Siddaramaiah’s wife. Actually, Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvati had 3 acres and 16 guntas of land in Kesare village of Mysore district. This land was gifted to her by Parvati’s brother Mallikarjuna in 2010. MUDA had developed Devanur Stage 3 layout without acquiring this land.
However, in exchange for this land, in 2022, the Basavaraj Bommai government gave Parvati 14 sites in the posh areas of South Mysore. These had a total area of 38,283 square feet under the 50:50 ratio scheme.
What are the allegations against Siddaramaiah?
- The value of the Vijayanagar plot given to Siddaramaiah’s wife as compensation by MUDA is much higher than her land in Kesare village.
- Snehamayi Krishna filed a complaint against Siddaramaiah. In this, she has accused Siddaramaiah of forging documents to claim the MUDA site as family property.
- From 1998 to 2023, Siddaramaiah held influential positions like Deputy CM or CM in Karnataka. Even though he was not directly involved in this scam, he used his power to help his close people.
- Mallikarjuna, brother of Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvati, had illegally purchased 3 acres of denotified land in 2004. In 2004-05, Siddaramaiah was again the Deputy CM in the Congress-JDS coalition government in Karnataka.
- Under the scheme, landowners whose land has been acquired by MUDA have been allotted alternative sites of higher value as compensation. Also, real estate agents have also been given land under this scheme.
- The land allotment scam was exposed by an RTI activist who said that over 6,000 sites had been allotted under the 50:50 scheme in the last four years.
- BJP MP and spokesperson Sambit Patra said that this is a scam of Rs 3000 to 4000 crores. Siddaramaiah’s family is involved in this. Congress is silent on this. The Governor has ordered an investigation, thanks to him.
Investigation of the scam was demanded On July 5, 2024, activist Kurubara Shanthakumar wrote a letter to the Governor saying – The Deputy Commissioner of Mysore has written 17 letters to MUDA between February 8, 2023 and November 9, 2023. On November 27, a letter was written to the Urban Development Authority, Government of Karnataka for investigation into the 50:50 ratio scam and against the MUDA Commissioner. Despite this, the MUDA Commissioner allotted thousands of sites.
Siddaramaiah said- Wife got land in BJP government On the allegations, Siddaramaiah said- In 2014, when I was the CM, my wife had applied for compensation. I had told my wife not to apply for compensation as long as I am the CM. In 2020-21, when the BJP government was in power, my wife was allotted compensation land. BJP is just trying to make false allegations against me.
BJP said- CM should resign, Deputy CM said- there is no question of resignation
Karnataka BJP President BY Vijayendra: ‘BJP is continuously fighting against the corrupt Congress government. He said that BJP is hatching a political conspiracy against us. The High Court has clearly stated in its decision that the decision taken by the Governor is correct. Accepting this decision, the CM should immediately resign.’
Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar: ‘There is no question of the Chief Minister resigning. He has not done anything wrong. He is not involved in any scam. This is a political conspiracy by the BJP. We stand with him, we support him. He is doing good work for the country, party and the state.’
Karnataka minister said – will appeal in double bench or Supreme Court Karnataka minister Ramalinga Reddy said, ‘We have faith in the law. We will fight it. We will appeal against the decision in the double bench, other benches and the Supreme Court. We stand with the Chief Minister.’
