HBCS 'violates' bylaws to allot sites to Speaker's daughters

In has now come to light that sites were allotted to the four daughters of Legislative Assembly Speaker K B Koliwad by a housing cooperative society in violation of rules. Employees of the legislature secretariat had set up the “Karnataka Legislature Secretariat Employees’ House Building Cooperative Society” for allotment of sites to its members at a layout at Gasti Kampanahalli and Agrahara villages near Yelahanka. While members were waiting for sites even after paying the necessary fees, Koliwad’s daughters were allotted four sites adjacent to each other.

Society vice-president K Ramanna, who is also officer on special duty to Koliwad, said the Society entered into an agreement with Jayasuriya Developers for development of the layout in 2004-05. “However, there was delay as the Bengaluru Development Authority did not clear the layout plan. After Koliwad became the Speaker, he got the plan cleared. This helped us allot 120 sites.”

Koliwad’s daughters were all dependents when they had applied for sites with the society. However, bylaws of house building cooperative societies bar any member of a family who has been allotted a site by a society or urban development authority  from getting another in the name of other family members. At the time his daughters had applied for the sites, Koliwad had already been alloted a site by the Karnataka Housing Board (KHB) in Yelahanka. He had initially constructed a house on the site. It was later demolished to make way for a convention hall (Prakhyathi Convention and Party Hall). The charge is Koliwad’s daughters were not eligible to apply for sites from the society, when he had already been allotted a site by KHB.

Moreover, Koliwad’s daughters were not employees of Karnataka legislature secretariat, making them ineligible to apply for sites from the society, as per rules. The four daughters of Koliwad, Sapna Patil, Prathiba N Doddamami, Sunitha V Mulimani and Sushma Manjunath got their sale deeds registered the same day and also got demand drafts for the site prepared from the same branch of Corporation Bank in Bengaluru. The 1,500 sq-foot sites allotted to Sapna, Prathiba and Sunitha were bought at Rs 18.75 lakh each, while the 2,409 sq-foot site allotted to Sushma was purchased at Rs 30.1 lakh.

Documents available reveal that the activities at the society speeded up after Koliwad became Speaker. The society held its meeting on November 7 last year and a decision was taken to allot the sites. The sites were registered within the next seven days (November 14).