A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court to revive a criminal matter wherein former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa was accused of helping senior Congress leader and Minister D K Shivakumar through denotification of land in Bengaluru.
On Tuesday, the top court agreed to examine the plea by S R Hiremath, president of Samaja Parivartna Samudaya, who filed an application to recall the order of February 21, whereby the petition filed by Kabbalegowda was “dismissed as withdrawn”.
“It seems the original complainant has been compromised and has chosen to withdraw the petition. The impunity with which the accused seem to have acted is a blot on the rule of law in the country,” he contended.
“The special leave petition was withdrawn on mentioning. The present intervenor was not informed about it,” he claimed in an application.
The intervenor, seeking recall of the order, submitted that the complainant might be compromised, but the complaint was not. “The complaint stands on its own two feet and has to be controverted on merits and not through the continuous, unconstitutional abdication by the state authorities,” he said.
The issue related to the denotification of 4.2 acres of land, in contravention of the Karnataka Restriction of Transfer of Land Act, 1991, and in violation of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code.
In a special leave petition, Kabbalegowda, a social worker from Ramanagara district, had challenged the Karnataka HC’s order of December 18, 2015, quashing the proceedings initiated against the leaders as well as Hamed Ali, then working sub-registrar at Bengaluru South taluk, and others. The trial court had on February 5, 2012 taken cognisance of the offences allegedly committed by the accused.
According to the complaint by Kabbalegowda, land measuring 5.11 acres in Bengaluru was said to have been purchased by one B K Srinivasan in 1962.
An extent of 4.2 acres was then converted from agricultural to industrial use. The land was subsequently said to have been notified for acquisition under the provisions of the Bangalore Development Authority Act.
It was alleged that Shivakumar, after assuming office as Minister for Urban Development and with the full knowledge that the land was notified for acquisition, is said to have purchased the said land from Srinivasan, who was then aged 82, on December 18, 2003, for a sum of Rs.1.62 crore, which was in contravention of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Subsequently, Shivakumar, in 2004, got the conversion made for an extent of 4.2 acres of land for residential purposes in collusion with officials. He is said to have entered into a joint development agreement with a firm in respect of the land.
It was alleged that the accused thus used his official position as an MLA and as leader of the Congress party to persuade the then Chief Minister Yeddyurappa to accord sanction for withdrawal from acquisition in respect of the land on May 13, 2010. The value of the land in question had grown manifold over the years and was then estimated at over Rs 29 crore.