Audit not enough, order a probe

The Karnataka government’s decision to float a global tender to shortlist an agency to audit all 188 industrial areas in the state and identify lands that have not been used for the allotted purpose, or have been encroached upon, is welcome. Land for industry is in short supply in the state and the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) routinely acquires farmlands and allots them to upcoming industries. While the audit may help free some land in time for the proposed Global Investors Meet in November, the exercise will only amount to scratching the surface unless the large-scale irregularities in KIADB are investigated. A private audit firm can only identify the extent of unused land but will have no power to investigate the role of officers or prosecute them for wrongdoing. Given the magnitude of alleged corruption in KIADB and the involvement of top politicians, only a probe by a Special Investigation Team, monitored by the High Court, will bring out the full truth. The probe should go into the entire gamut -- land acquisition, the process of allotment, the connivance of officers in the misuse of allotted land.

According to Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani, about 2,000 acres of land are “dead” because they have either not been utilised by the allottee or have been encroached upon. While the law is clear that the allotted land will be forfeited if not utilised within three years, officers look the other way when companies hoard land and later illegally transfer it to others for real estate development and non-industrial purposes. Many companies have not utilised land allotted to them even after being given extensions. In one case, KIADB was not even aware that a well-known industrial group had not taken possession of the 150 acres of land it was allotted on Magadi Road, Bengaluru, over 35 years ago. Now, with about 20 acres of this land being encroached and some parts of it leased out to a school and to the KSRTC, the KIADB is left with only 75 acres. In addition, many industrial units that were allotted land have turned sick and have remained shut for over a decade now.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had recently announced that a panel headed by a retired High Court judge would be appointed to vet all tenders worth above Rs 50 crore. A similar procedure should be adopted in the re-allotment of recovered land, too, so that it does not fall once again into wrong hands, defeating the very purpose of the exercise. This is a good opportunity to clean up the KIADB and restore its credibility.