Ch'hill land row: Probe team to receive petitions on May 20

Panel to submit report to government subsequently

 In a first major step after ordering the probe into the controversy surrounding close to 2,000 acres of land near the foot of Chamundi Hill in the city, the two member team of retired bureaucrats will be arriving in the city on May 20 to vet into the veracity of the claimants.

On May 20, from 10.30 am onwards, retired secretary of the government G S Narayan Swamy and retired KAS officer G Jayaram, who are appointed as the investigating officers to probe into the issue, will be receiving petitions at Room No 3 at Deputy Commissioner’s office.

The petitioners or land holders at Alanahalli (Survey No 41), Kurubarahalli (Survey No 4) and Chowdahalli (Survey No 39) at Kasaba hobli, Mysore taluk in the district are requested to submit relevant documents of land holdings.

Apart from the landlords, general public and organisations may also submit their queries if any in relation to the claimants. The probe team will later submit a report to the government.

The controversy surrounding the lands surfaced when the then deputy commissioner P S Vastrad issued an order lifting the status of ‘B’ kharab lands to ‘A’ kharab at the afore mentioned survey numbers in the year 2012.

Following this, the land holders including the royal scion Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar who passed away last December was also a beneficiary along with several others. 

Though the royals were the custodians of the land, they didn’t have a khata of the same. Similar was the status of others, who claimed to have purchased the land through GPA holders of the royals, but lacked valid document to substantiate their claims. 

The lands coming under the ‘B’ kharab are naturally gomala (area reserved for cattle grazing) and used for other purposes. However, when the then deputy commissioner converted the status of land from ‘B’ kharab to ‘A’ kharab facilitating the process of khata, it had stirred the hornet’s nest, especially after the BJP MLC Go Madhusudhan cried foul play. It eventually proved costly for Vastrad, who was forced to revoke the order and was transferred (from Mysore) later.

The royals also had intervened announcing to launch a legal recourse to claim what rightfully belongs to them, according to an agreement reached between the erstwhile and last maharaja of Mysore Jayachamaraja Wadiyar, and the then central government after the princely rule was abolished in the country.