Relief for HDK in illegal denotification case

In a relief for Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, a special court set up to try cases against MPs and MLAs, has discharged him in an alleged case of illegal denotification. The Lokayukta police had filed a charge sheet against Kumaraswamy and others alleging denotification of 3.08 acres in Thanisandra flouting rules.

The special court judge B V Patil on Monday discharged Kumaraswamy, retired IAS officer K Jothiramalingam and two private persons Dr Raviprakash and Sriram on various grounds.

Senior counsel Hasmat Pasha, representing Kumaraswamy in the discharge application, said that the application was allowed on various grounds. One of the grounds was that the sanction was not obtained from the competent authority before filing the charge sheet as per Section 187 of CrPC. Pasha said the land was dropped from acquisition following due procedure and that Kumaraswamy’s actions were as the chief minister of the state. The court also held that the private complainant approached the court alleging irregularities in denotification four years after the order was passed.

The special court also held that there were no materials in support of the allegations. The court allowed the discharge applications filed by four accused persons stating that it was not a fit case to frame charges. The Lokayukta police had filed the charge sheet against Kumaraswamy, Jothiramalingam, Dr Raviprakash, Sriram and former minister
C Chennigappa.

Chennigappa had not filed application seeking discharge. The court discharged all the five accused in the accused while allowing the applications of the four. “We had argued that the complainant was from Chamarajanagar district and he is unconnected to the notification of the land. Moreover, the order of the denotification was not challenged by any one and hence it remains a legal order. The denotification order was passed since BDA had submitted that the possession of the land was not taken,’’ Hasmat Pasha told DH.

The Lokayukta police had filed the charge sheet in April 2012. The land in question, measuring 3 acres and 8 guntas in survey number 87/4B of Thanisandra, Bengaluru, was part of the final notification for the formation of Arkavathy Layout and an award of Rs 42 lakh was passed.

The original land owners - Dr Raviprakash and Sriram - filed an application in April 2007 through the then minister C Chennigappa requesting denotification of the land. The charge sheet stated that by that time, Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) had carved 57 sites in the said land, of which 44 were allotted to various applicants during 2006-07.

The land owners filed a statement before the government saying they owned no other property except the Thanisandra land. Whereas, the charge sheet stated that Dr Raviprakash and Sriram owned a farmhouse, a commercial complex, residential plots and 10 acres of land in and around Bengaluru. According to the charge sheet, Kumaraswamy passed the order denotifying the land in 2007 and the original land owners sold the entire land for Rs 2.56 crore.