Lokayukta Justice Y Bhaskar Rao has declared that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from the Bangalore South constituency, M Krishnappa, should not continue to hold his post as the “Lokayukta is satisfied that allegations against him are substantiated”.
Krishnappa, a second-time MLA, was accused of illegal denotification of 36 guntas of land in Survey No 103/1 and 39 guntas in Survey No 103/2 of Uttarahalli village (notification number UDD:294:MNX:2001, dated August 14, 2007).
Following the denotification, Krishnappa entered into a joint development agreement with a firm, Rainbow Properties, owned by his daughter Reshma Supreeth and son-in-law Supreeth Suresh in October 2009. They constructed a multi-storeyed residential building. The Lokayukta also found truth in the complaint that Krishnappa “misused his official position” as an MLA for personal gain.
Journalist Nagalakshmi Bai had complained against Krishnappa in this regard before the Lokayukta. Documents given by her to Deccan Herald show the Lokayukta indicted the MLA in the illegal denotification of land and sent a letter to the governor on August 7.
Also, on October 7, the Lokayukta sent another report: “In the instant case, the Lokayukta is satisfied that allegations against the respondent are substantiated and hence, declares that the respondent should not continue to hold the post.”
According to the Karnataka Lokayukta Act, Section 13, “When Lokayukta or Upa Lokayukta is satisfied that the complaint involving an allegation against a public servant is substantiated, the public servant concerned should not continue to hold his post. They shall make a declaration to that effect in the report under sub-section (3) of Section 12.”
The Lokayukta mentioned that since Krishnappa is an MLA, the competent authority to take action against him is the Governor as per Section 2 (4) (a) of the Act. The competent authority can either accept or reject the declaration of the Lokayukta after giving an opportunity to the public servant to be heard.
When contacted, Krishnappa claimed that the Lokayukta has dropped charges against him and given him a clean chit. He added that even the High Court has set aside the charges against him. He said since he was in Belagavi attending the Assembly session, he may be able to furnish documents only after returning to Bengaluru.