Land row halts work on 'Raitha Santhe'

The Exhibition Authority has spent Rs 18 lakh on the project so far

The work on ambitious project which took off with a lot of enthusiasm in June this year has abruptly stopped. Reason: The High Court has given a stay order after a Bangalore-based businessman has claimed ownership of the land where Karnataka Exhibition Authority (KEA) started work on the Raitha Santhe.

Petition in HC

He has filed a petition before the High Court stating that he had purchased the same piece of land in an auction by the IT department.

According to him, the land originally belonged to scion of royal family Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar. The IT department auctioned the land after Wadiyar failed to file his returns and pay tax towards his assets, he claims.

However, the KEA claims that it is a government land and is fighting the case in the High Court.

An official source said that the proposed land came under surey no. 1 of Kasaba. Out of the 165 acres and 13 guntas of land that Maharaja donated for public purpose, 80 acres was given to the Karnataka Exhibition Authority to establish exhibition in front of Daddakere grounds.

 The remaining land is a Government land. “Hence, we began the work on constructing shelters for about 400 farmers. We believe our stand will get approval of the Court. The work on the project will resume after the litigation is cleared.”

Long time demand

The Raitha Santhe had been a long time demand from the farmers in the region who bring their agricultural produces like vegetables, fruits and cereals to sell in open market.
The KEA started the work after the MUDA released Rs 25 lakh towards the construction of the Raitha Santhe. Chairman B P Manjunath had announced in February that the Raitha Santhe would be in place within a month and it would be named after Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.

The KEA has already spent Rs 18 lakh on the project. The chairman and the officials of KEA muddled the project without verifying the ownership of the land.

Survey

However, an official says that the investment made so far would not go waste as the shelters could be dismantled to shift to other place if the KEA loses its case in the Court.
The official added that the revenue department has taken up a survey to present a detailed report in the HC in support of the Government’s claim over the ownership of land.