Arkavathy case: ‘Clean chit’ for Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has got a ‘clean chit’ from the Justice H S Kempanna Commission, which inquired into charges of illegal denotification of parcels of land acquired for BDA’s Arkavathy Layout, by successive governments.
Three years after the state government constituted the Commission in 2014, Justice Kempanna submitted a eport to Chief Secretary Subhash Chandra Khuntia on Wednesday. According to official sources, the Commission has not indicted anyone for the illegalities in denotifying Arkavathy Layout land.
The report only presents the facts of the case, apparently due to ‘weak’ terms of reference. It has attributed some irregularities to lapses on the part of Land Acquisition Officers of BDA and Urban Development Department.
It all began in August 2014 with the Opposition BJP accusing Siddaramaiah of denotifying large tracts (541 acres) of land for monetary benefit in Arkavathy Layout. The BJP?demanded a CBI?probe.
Siddaramaiah, in turn, accused chief ministers of successive governments from 2004, including three from the BJP, of denotifying the land. Siddaramaiah claimed that his government had only issued “remodification orders”?as per the six parameters laid down by the Karnataka High Court.
Refusing to involve the CBI, Siddaramaiah announced a judicial probe by the retired judge. Several complaints pertaining to denotification of land in the layout has been filed before the Commission.
In govt court
Speaking after submitting the report, Justice Kempanna said, “I have completed my task after studying all aspects of the complaints received relating to irregularities in development of the Arkavathy Layout. Now it is up to the government to decide the future course of action.”
The Commission probed whether orders of courts were violated during the denotification of 983 acres of land since February 2004. The panel got several extensions due to delay in furnishing documents by the BDA.