Land scam: Anti Corruption Bureau registers FIR against KMF, PWD

The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) has registered an FIR against officials of Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) and Public Works Department (PWD), in a case where a prime property allotted to the KMF by the PWD has been leased to realtors.

The KMF had leased two acres and 16.74 guntas of land out of the four acres and 14 guntas allotted to it in Koramangala, Bengaluru, to a real estate firm for construction of a commercial building. The land was allotted to KMF to build its office complex.

The Anti Corruption Bureau has registered the First Information Reprt (FIR) under Sections 13 (1) (c) (d) of Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code. Though the names of the officials are not mentioned, the FIR states that the managing director and board of management of KMF and executive engineer of PWD (Buildings) during 2007 and 2008 are the suspects.

Complaint lodged

Activist Saidutta had filed a complaint with the the Anti Corruption Bureau.

The land in four survey numbers (71, 2, 3, and 4) in Koramangala was handed over to the KMF by the PWD in 1986 and 1998.

For 10 years, the KMF did not construct the office complex. However, a board meeting of the KMF held in 2007 resolved to commercially exploit two acres and 16.74 guntas. Subsequently, the KMF handed over the lease hold rights to a company PVK Koramangala Development Pvt Ltd, which was the special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the project.

Armed with the lease hold rights, PVK Koramangala entered into a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) with a leading realty firm in March 2011 by receiving Rs 9 crore as deposit.

As per the Joint Development Agreement, PVK Koramangala would own 44% of the super built-up area and the remaining 56% will be the share of the other realty firm.

One of the clauses in the JDA states that both the parties enjoy absolute ownership over their share in the constructed area and that they can “hold, gift, sell, mortgage, lease or otherwise dispose of their respective shares or any part thereof in any manner they may deem fit”.