Social activist S R Hiremath on Wednesday said Home Minister K J George had concealed details about a site, allotted in his wife Suja George’s name by the Vyalikaval House Building Co-operative Society, in the affidavit he had filed before the Election Commission ahead of the Assembly elections in 2008.
Hiremath said that five years later, George’s wife surrendered the said site a day after the Assembly elections were announced in 2013. Later, the site was re-allotted to a close associate of George for the same price – Rs 8.4 lakh.
“In 1992, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) had allotted a ‘G’ category site to George, who was then the Housing and Urban Development minister in Bangarappa’s Cabinet. This means neither he nor his family can own any other site. However, site No 604 was allotted to his wife Suja and site No 605 to his brother K J Kuruvilla. George suppressed this fact in his affidavit before the Election Commission in 2008.
“In 2013, a day after the Election Commission announced the calendar of events for the Assembly elections, Suja surrendered the site. The same site was allotted to Ismail Shariff for the same price (Rs 8.4 lakh). Interestingly, witnesses signing the documents for both Suja and Ismail were the same people,” Hiremath said.
However, when contacted, George refuted Hiremath’s claims, saying that both the sites were returned to the original owners after a Supreme Court order.
“Initially, we weren’t aware that a BDA site allotted to me in 1992 would mean that my family and I cannot own another site. In 2011, when a former Lokayukta resigned from the post, I got to know that it amounts to violation of rules to own more than one site. My wife filed the application for surrendering the property in 2011 itself; only that it was executed in 2013.
“Moreover, both the allotments were challenged by the original owners stating that their properties were not part of the acquisition, which was upheld by the Supreme Court. My brother’s application in the civil court was also dismissed and the sites were returned to the original owners. Where is the question of us getting the same sites back,” George said.
The documents produced by Hiremath show that both the sale deeds, in favour of Suja
in 2004 and in favour of Ismail in 2013, identify the site as No 604 and with the same
dimensions.