Govt orders judicial probe into Arkavathy land denotification scam

BANGALORE: Arkavathy layout, envisaged to provide BDA plots to 8,813 allottees, has been put under the scanner now, with chief minister Siddaramaiah announcing a judicial inquiry into alleged denotification of land done for the project since 2003.
The BJP, led by opposition leader Jagadish Shettar, who raised the issue and kept up the heat for the last three days, refused to budge from their demand for a CBI inquiry in the assembly on Monday too.
Shettar's contention was that Siddaramaiah, just before the Lok Sabha elections, had denotified 541 acres by violating six guidelines issued by the Karnataka high court for doing it. The BJP stalled proceedings of the house for the entire day and the party members also boycotted the lunch hosted by Siddaramaiah in the banquet hall of Vidhana Soudha.
Shettar reasoned there was no point in attending the CM's lunch after they have been sparring at each other. Siddaramaiah, who had offered to hand over all denotifications done from 2003 to 2014 either to the CID, house panel or a judicial probe, finally opted for the latter.
The CM announced that a retired judge of the Karnataka high court will conduct the probe from the time the preliminary notification was issued in 2003 to acquire 3,839.12 acres of land till the revised modification scheme of 1,766.07 acres was submitted to the high court in 2014.
"We have nothing to hide. Let a fair probe reveal the truth,'' Siddaramaiah told reporters soon after the House was adjourned following a din for the third consecutive day since Friday.
When the house met for the day, the BJP members trooped into the well of the house.
Shettar reiterated his allegation of Siddaramaiah denotifying 541 acres. He also alleged that the Congress government had denotified 983 acres of land meant for the layout from 2003 onwards for monetary considerations. According to him land acquired for notification was denotified and the owners were paid Rs two crore per acre by middlemen in connivance with the BDA and government.
The land after it was excluded from the project was resold to realtors at Rs 15 crore per acre and middlemen had made a pile of Rs 500 crore over all these years. Siddaramaiah shot back saying it was Shettar as CM, who had denotified the 541 acres on February 12, 2013, before elections to the assembly could be announced. "As the opposition leader, I had demanded CBI probe into 20 different scams of the BJP government. But the stubborn BJP government rejected all our demand. Why do you expect us to heed to your demand now,'' the CM asked.
With both ruling Congress and BJP members indulging in trading of charges besides sloganeering, pandemonium prevailed for over one hour. Amid the din, Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa managed to table financial and other bills and get passed a few of them in the House. But when things went out of control, he was forced to adjourn the House for lunch. Later, speaking to reporters, Shettar said: "The CM is uttering falsehood. He stands exposed because all these days he had claiming that he had no role to play in the denotification. He even tried to pass the buck to the BDA." He alleged that Siddaramaiah had approved issuing the denotification letter dated March 3 despite knowing that it was in violation of guidelines laid down by the high court. "When I was the CM the same file recommending denotification of land had come to me in 2013. But I did not approve as it was against the guidelines," he maintained. On allegation that Yeddyurappa had denotified 198 acres of land and he would be in soup if CBI takes up the probe, Shettar said the two cases are different. "Most CMs in the past denotified land using their discretionary powers. But here in this case, Siddaramaiah used this powers by violating the court directions," he said.