DH Exclusive | All rules bent in alternative site allotment by BDA

In a serious breach of multiple rules and court orders, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has allotted prime land in exchange for a site given 50 years ago. Worse still, the beneficiary was not even the original allottee.

The alternative site in Koramangala 1st Block was given in a hush-hush manner to a person who was the fourth buyer of the original site allotted in 1972. The shady deal is likely to land at least three officers in trouble as the site was allotted without approval from statutory panel. This was exposed by a report that Justice A V Chandrashekar Committee filed under the SC directions. The SC scrutinised all alternative sites allotted by BDA since its Oct 2021 order. The report mentioned a total of eight illegal allotments, including the one in Koramangala 1st Block.

The original site was allotted in Banashankari 2nd Stage to B R Srinivasa Murthy in April 1972. Eleven years later, Murthy executed a GPA in favour of Shanthamani. BDA issued her a sale deed in 1984. After two months, she sold to Sulochanadevi Jindal who sold it to Gowtam Chand Jain in 2018. In a month, Jain sought alternative land from BDA.

In May this year, the then BDA commissioner M B Rajesh Gowda passed the allotment order and Jain was issued the allotment intimation in July.

The court-appointed committee found that the allotment broke at least three key rules: a) The BDA violated Rule 11 (A) of the Allotment of Alternative Site Rules, 2002; b) It disobeyed the court’s Oct 2021 order that prohibits allotting alternative sites in developed housing estates, and c) The relation between the BDA and the allottee is severed once the sale deed is executed.

This is what the committee said in its report to the apex court: “The BDA is not obligated to and neither can the subsequent purchaser lay a claim on BDA for an alternate site. The alternate site allotment rules itself state that a case can be considered when an allottee has not been put in possession of the site. In this case, the allottee was put in possession of the site.”

Interestingly, the original case file went missing during the scrutiny. “A duplicate has been built up on the basis of records submitted by Gowtam Chan Jain and (a) decision is taken on that basis only,” the report states.

As per the report, the file was handled by then deputy secretary N N Madhu, secretary C L Anand, both KAS officers, and the then commissioner M B Rajesh Gowda, who is an IAS officer.

Reached for comment, Gowda said no rule bars the BDA from considering requests on the basis of how old the original allotments were. “The request was considered as the original site was under litigation even after 50 years,” he said. He, however, said the BDA may still not issue the sale deed.

Site saga

*B R Srinivasa Murthy was allotted a 40x60 in Banashankari 2nd Stage in April 1972. The lease-sale agreement was executed in his favour in November 1973. The possession
certificate was issued in January 1974.

*In Sept 1983, Murthy executed a GPA in favour of one Shanthamani. The BDA executed an absolute sale deed in her favour in July 1984.

*Within two months, Shanthamani sold the site to Sulochanadevi Jindal.

*Jindal executed a sale deed in favour of Gowtam Chand Jain in November 2018.

*Within a month, Jain applied to the BDA for an alternate site, vaguely mentioning litigation.

*In May 2022, M B Rajesh Gowda, then BDA commissioner, passed an order allotting an alternative site to Jain. An allotment intimation was sent in July 2022.