From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Aug 23: Even as BJP State President and former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa is trying to extricate himself from the Shivarama Karanth Layout land denotifications tangle, his bete noir and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has received a clean chit in the Arkavathy Layout land denotifications issue by the Justice H S Kempanna Commission.
The Justice H S Kempanna Commission, which inquired into the alleged illegal denotificaiton of lands in the Arkavathy Layout by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, has submitted its report to Karnataka Chief Secretary Subhash Chandra Khuntia.
The Kempanna panel’s report is said to have given a clean chit to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and has attributed the alleged irregularities to lapses on part of some of the middle and lower rung of officials of Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and Urban Development Department.
Justice Kempanna, who submitted the 1861 page report, "I have completed my task after studying all aspects of the complaints received about the alleged irregularities in development of the Arkavathy layout. Now it is upto the government to decide future course of action."
The Commission was constituted in August 2014 after BJP raised a storm over the issue in both the houses of state legislature alleging that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was a direct beneficiary of the denotification of 541 acres of land.
The principal opposition party in both houses of State Legislature had sought a CBI?inquiry to probe into the alleged irregularities.
Terms of Reference
The terms of reference for the Commission included:
- Whether the deletion/exclusion of lands by Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and the government after final notification was issued to a total extent of 983.33 acres of lands are in violation of the orders of the High Court in writ appeal 2624-2625/2005, orders of the Supreme Court in Civil appeal No 4097/2010 and other relevant court orders pertaining to Arkavathy Layout,
- Whether the various quasi-judicial orders passed by the four Land Acquisition Officers authorised are legal and valid, whether the various resolutions passed by BDA to exclude from acquisition from the final notification after considering the objections raised by the landowners as per the orders of the High Court and Supreme Court are legal and valid, and
- Whether any undue favour has been shown to the landowners by the Authorities while exercising their powers.
However,?Siddaramaiah refused to hand over investigation to the CBI and had announced a judicial probe headed by a retired judge.
The Chief Minister had explained that the denotification of 541 acres was in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Karnataka High?Court.