JOIN USGovt violated court orders on Arkavathi layout: HDK
JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy on Friday charged the Siddaramaiah government with deleting 544.31 acres of BDA land meant for Arkavathi layout, throwing six guidelines laid down by court to the winds.
Releasing a 487-page book “Arkavathi Karmakanda” to the media on illegalities pertaining to the issue, he said about 90 per cent of land was dropped from acquisition process in violation of the court guidelines. Moreover, the government has so far not issued a notification for having dropped lands under the BDA Land Acquisition Act, he argued.
“It is a clear contempt of court. The Supreme Court never asked the government to empower Land Acquisition Officers (LAOs) to take any decision. The BDA and the government had the responsibility to verify reports of LAOs before accepting them. The court has nowhere asked to bypass any law. The government has paved the way for illegal deletion of the land citing court orders. Even the re-modified scheme of 1,766 acres does not have legal sanctity,” he charged.
420 pages of annexure
The JD(S) book has 420 pages of annexure, including opinions of the then Advocate Generals of Karnataka, file notings of heads of Urban Development Department, reports of LAOs and BDA commissioner’s remarks on them, notification for re-modified scheme and copies of no-objection certificates issued by BDA to land owners before dropping their lands from acquisition process.
Kumaraswamy said the then Advocate General S Vijayshankar in 2012 had opined that reports of LAOs should be approved by the BDA. Later the government has to denotify the land under Section 48(1) of the Land Acquisition Act. The AG had given his opinion on a proposal to drop 285.18 acres from acquisition as recommended by LAOs, he added.
Similarly, he said, the then UDD principal secretary Bharat Lal Meena in December 2012 submitted the BDA proposal and the AG’s report before the then Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar seeking his direction and guidance. Meena specifically noted that BDA had to take the decision on LAOs’ report with utmost care, keeping public interest in mind. But Shettar did not give any direction.
259 acres added
Kumaraswamy said the BDA later added about 259 acres in its proposal. “Siddaramaiah has been arguing that neither the BDA nor his government has anything to do with dropping of lands and that it was LAOs’ decision. The government cannot shirk from its responsibility. It has misinterpreted court orders and allowed deletion of lands to favour middlemen, builders and GPA (general power of attorney) holders. There is not a grain of public interest in the entire exercise,” he charged.
Quoting an instance of violation of court guidelines, he said the LAOs have done re-do of portion of survey number 32/1 of Kempapura village in favour of BJP MLA Gurupadappa Nagamarapalli, while pahani (RTC)has the name of Rangappa (original land owner). Nagamarapalli is the GPA holder of the land.