PIL challenges grant of 2 acres for Congress Bhavan in Tumakuru at 5% of guidance value

The petition has been filed by N N Gopalakrishna, a businessman from Tumakuru.

Bengaluru:  The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday ordered notices to the State government and the Tumakuru Deputy Commissioner in a PIL petition challenging allotment of two acres of land in Tumakuru in favour of the Congress Bhavan Trust. 

A division bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C M Poonacha also ordered a notice to the Tumakuru City Corporation and posted the matter to August 13 for further hearing. 

The petition was filed by N N Gopalakrishna, a businessman from Tumakuru. 

According to the petitioner, the land in survey numbers 87/1 and 87/2 at Maralur village, measuring two acres each, was acquired in 1942 in favour of Tumkur Town Municipality by the then Maharaja of Mysore. 

The petitioner said that on July 11, 2023, Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara and a few office-bearers of the Congress party registered ‘Rajiv Gandhi Urban and Rural Development Trust’.

Within a month, a representation was submitted seeking grant of one acre of land in survey number 87. Though the request was
for one acre, the deputy commissioner wrote to the Tumakuru Corporation commissioner to examine whether two acres can be granted to the Trust. 

The petition stated that the Corporation commissioner cited guidelines issued in 2003 and opined that the land can be alienated in favour of the Trust only by way of a public auction or at current market rate as per the guidance value. 

After several correspondences on the subject, in the Cabinet meeting held on May 22, 2025, the chief minister approved the grant of two acres, as against the original request of one acre, at 5 per cent of the guidance rate to Congress Bhavan Trust and not to the applicant Rajiv Gandhi Urban and Rural Development Trust, the petition said. 

Pursuant to the Cabinet decision, a government order was issued on May 27, 2025, granting two acres of land and on August 13, 2025, grant certificate was registered.

The petitioner submitted that as per the registered deed, the Trust had come into existence only on August 8, 2025, around two-and-a-half months after the Cabinet approved the grant. 

“A land reserved for public utility since 1942 has been given for a song, causing immense loss of nearly 22.60 crore and that too for private purpose. Public interest has been thrown to the winds,” the petition said, seeking directions to quash the government order and to set aside the grant certificate.