Twelve revenue officers are in trouble for causing financial loss to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) by not collecting property tax from a shopping mall situated in Bellandur. Following an internal inquiry, the state government has given its consent to transfer the case for property investigation to the Karnataka Lokayukta.
This is perhaps the first case in recent times where both sitting and retired revenue officers of the BBMP will be probed by the Lokayukta for dereliction of duty. The government has granted permission under Section 17 of The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
The purported tax fraud was detected in November 2021 when the Bengaluru City police raided the BBMP’s Mahadevapura sub-division following a complaint. During the inspection, the police found that revenue officers were not collecting property tax of a shopping mall on time. This turned out to be true even during an internal probe conducted by the chief vigilance squad and the Urban Development Department.
Based on the initial findings, the case was transferred to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in March 2022. As the ACB ceases to exist, the UDD had sought government approval to transfer the matter to the Lokayukta.
In an order issued by the government, it has given its consent to probe 12 revenue officers - H K Nagaraj, L N Ramachandrappa, G S Siddalingappa, Shamachari, Mohan S, Narasimhalu, Sridhar, Seshagiri, Mahesh Kumar, V Manjunath, H N Ramesh and Srinivas. Of these, two officers have retired from service.
When DH reached out for a comment, R Venkatachalapathi, BBMP’s Joint Commissioner (Mahadevapura zone) did not share the details regarding the extent of property tax fraud.
One of the 12 revenue officers said they are planning to challenge the investigation by seeking relief from the High Court.
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