Food and Civil Supplies Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao has said that there is no question of he resigning from the Cabinet in the wake of allegation of encroaching upon government land.

Addressing a press meet here on Saturday, the minister said that he was in possession of the land purchased by his father and he was facing encroachment charges due to “mistake on the part of the Revenue department.” The minister said that their family had purchased a total of 53 acres in survey number 3 and 13 of Navaratna Agrahara in 1983. “My father passed away in 1993 and the property was transferred in the joint names of we three brothers in 1995. There had been no change in the extent of these lands till July 2014,” he said.

Dinesh said that the Joint House Committee led by A T Ramaswamy reported that his (Gundu Rao’s) family had encroached upon 67 acres of government land and that he had given his clarification then itself. “I have also written to the Revenue department to take back excess land, if any,” he said.

The minister said that the tahsildar had issued him a notice stating that the whole parcel of land belonged to government and he had approached the court of special deputy commissioner, challenging the said notice. The special DC passed an order in 2012, upholding the land purchase made by the family.

He said that an application was submitted seeking the demarcation of the land boundaries and the then tahsildar had given a survey report saying that the family was in possession of 10.09 acres of excess land. 

“My family has returned the excess land to the government voluntarily,” he claimed.