Minister for Revenue, V Sreenivas Prasad, told the Council on Tuesday that a detailed inquiry into the conversion of 2,000 acres of land and subsequent sale of it by fabricating documents by the then deputy commissioner of Mysore would be conducted by a senior IAS officer.
Replying to a question by BJP member G Madhusudan, the minister said that the matter was presently pending for final disposal in the High Court, in parts, and that the matter had come to the notice of the government.
“Already, the regional commissioner has submitted the report. We will take the report into account and ask a senior IAS officer of the additional chief secretary rank to probe into it,” said Prasad.
Madhusudan said that cutting across party lines, many politicians and influential people were involved in the grabbing of Gomala land at the foot of Chamundi Hills in Mysore.
Lokayukta inquiry
Sreenivas Prasad said that he will refer the cases pertaining to illegally converting land, on the pretext of Akrama Sakrama, in three taluks of Kodagu to the Lokayukta.
He was replying to questions by senior JD(S) member M C Nanaiah, who alleged that a sitting MLA from Kodagu had sanctioned the conversion of land in Virajpet to BJP district office bearers till as recently as 2010. “In the single village of Hegala, the local tahsildar approved the conversion of land for 11 family members of a BJP office bearer,” he said. Nanaiah demanded a complete probe into the entire issue, which has denied several poor people their rights, while benefiting a number of rich people.
Prasad said, “We completely agree with the Opposition leader and are ready to submit all documents related to the conversion of land in taluks of Virajpet, Somwarpet and Madikeri to the Lokayukta. We will initiate a Lokayukta inquiry afresh.”