DK Shivakumar chairing a meeting
Credit: Special arrangement
Bengaluru: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday announced that a special investigation team (SIT) would look into collusion between officials and lawyers who caused losses to the government in land-acquisition cases.
Shivakumar, who is also the minister for Water Resources and Bengaluru Urban Development, said this after chairing a meeting where he reviewed pending court cases under his departments.
"I got an internal investigation done on how many cases were there, why these cases went to court, and why they haven't been disposed of. The information I got was that these cases would cause more burden on the government," Shivakumar said.
In his irrigation department, Shivakumar said if compensation for the land acquired was fixed at Rs 9 lakh an acre, courts have ended up granting Rs 9-20 crore.
"If we don't fix the loopholes, then the government will possibly face a burden of Rs 5 lakh crore," Shivakumar said.
There are 61,843 pending court cases pertaining to various irrigation utilities - 25,356 in Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Ltd (KNNL), 2,856 in Visvesvaraya Jala Nigam Ltd (VJNL), 4,455 in Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Ltd (CNNL) and 29,176 in Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Ltd (KBJNL). There are 219 lawyers involved in these cases.
"An investigation ordered by the revenue department found that officials and lawyers did not file appeals within the stipulated time. We'll form an SIT to see how and where such conspiracies were hatched. Those guilty of dereliction will be suspended and they'll face a department inquiry. Lawyers who didn't perform by filing timely appeals before courts will be dismissed. We've decided to hold both officials and lawyers responsible," Shivakumar said.
Shivakumar also said that the government would examine the formation of an authority headed by a retired judge to adjudicate disputes related to land acquisition. "There's provision (for this authority) under the land acquisition law," he said.