Admit corruption in revenue dept, but not all are corrupt: Karnataka minister

Bengaluru: Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda on Wednesday admitted on the floor of the House that there is corruption in his department. 

However, the minister clarified to the members of the House that “not all officers are corrupt”. Responding to questions by Congress MLC Yathindra Siddaramaiah and JD(S) member T A Sharavana, the minister said, “I will not deny corruption allegations, but I want to make it clear that not all officers are corrupt.”

Further, the minister briefed the House on how officials help land grabbers approach the court after creating fake documents. “This is going on in the department systematically. They create fake documents and even encroachers of gomala land go to court seeking grant of land with these documents. Without the involvement of officials, such things cannot happen,” the minister stated.

Giving an example of a particular case in his own constituency, Krishna Byre Gowda explained, “Someone bought 53 acres of land and encroached 18 acres gomala land after colluding and conspiring with officials. I express helplessness, but I am merely stating the fact. In some cases, even when the court directed us to consider their documents, we clearly said no. We have even conveyed to the court that if the land is B kharab, gomala or lake, we will not issue khata,” the minister informed. 

Meanwhile, the minister even agreed that in some cases, even those who got land granted genuinely are being harassed. “I will try to bring even such cases on an online app. Only in case of illegal grants, forest land etc..we cannot issue khata,” clarified. 

When BJP members tried to cash in on the statement by Yathindra Siddaramaiah alleging corruption in the revenue department at the local level, the minister silenced the Opposition members saying, “Lakhs of khatas are pending, should I say the previous government was the root cause for the corruption? Yathindra has spoken the truth, we must accept it and not bring in party politics here.”

Assuring the House that all possible measures will be taken to prevent grabbing of government land, the minister said, “I have informed deputy commissioners, even in Bengaluru Urban, to conduct encroachment removal drives twice a week.” 

The data provided to the House revealed that in Bengaluru Urban there are over 272 cases of government land encroached in the last three years and 136.01 acres have been recovered.