Krishna Byre Gowda
Credit: DH PHOTO/PUSHKAR V
Bengaluru: Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda on Monday conceded in the Legislative Assembly that there was an “organised land grabbing” in the state in collusion with officials, while claiming that such officials would be punished.
“There are some honest officers but because of the damage done by some corrupt officers, the entire government gets a bad name. We are mercilessly initiating action against such people. To act against such erring officials, we brought an act (Karnataka Land Revenue Amendment Act) with amendments to the ‘good faith’ clause that exempted officials from being punished.”
The discussion began during the calling attention motion, when Bommanahalli’s BJP MLA Satish Reddy referred to a case in his constituency and accused the revenue officials of colluding with land encroachers.
“In survey numbers 43, 44 in my constituency, the government owns over 40 acres of land. Some people sold it 2-3 times, hoping they would get it back under the Prevention of Transfer of Certain Lands (PTCL) Act (for SC/STs). The AC court’s verdict was in their (encroachers) favour, but the DC court and High Court ruled against them. Still, they have joined hands with corrupt officials and have reclaimed the land.”
The Bommanahalli MLA explained that last week graves in an unofficial graveyard had been destroyed by such claimants.
Responding to this, the revenue minister noted that the Bengaluru South AC responsible for this was moved out.
“Tomorrow, I will ask the DC to come. Let there be a proper survey in both lands. The documents are important. If they have taken land rights for the second time, I will take action. If officials have colluded, we will initiate action against them also,” he added.