The high court on Thursday quashed the allotment of a civic amenity (CA) site in Bengaluru to a trust linked to Kalaburagi MP Umesh G Jadhav. A division bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma termed Karnataka Housing Board's actions a clear case of favouritism and directed it to take back the land in 30 days.
“The most shocking aspect is that KHB allotted the site without following regulations,” the bench said and imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on KHB. The court directed the principal secretary, Housing Department, to recover the cost from erring officials.
The original allotment of the site in Yelahanka New Town was made in 2004. The lease was executed in favour of Murthy Charitable Trust, of which Umesh Jadhav’s wife Gayatri is the president. The trust had paid Rs 3.87 lakh for the 232-sqmts site.
One of the conditions of the allotment was to put the site to educational and public use in two years. While no construction was put up for 16 years, KHB executed an absolute sale deed in 2020 for 278 sq mtr, including additional land, for Rs 21.87 lakh.
One Adinarayana Shetty contended that KHB sold a CA site worth Rs 10 crore to the influential person.
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Published 30 September 2021, 19:37 IST