Calling the protest planned by the BJP in Mysuru on Friday over the alleged scam in Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) as “politically motivated”, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said it was “a drama” fuelled by those who are unable to digest the fact that a person from an OBC community had become the Chief Minister of Karnataka for the second time.
Speaking to mediapersons in Mysuru, he sought to draw a distinction between irregularities in sites allotted under 50:50 scheme by misusing the facility and the authority compensating his wife he had received for MUDA illegally occupying her land.
Mr. Siddaramaiah insisted that there was no wrong-doing with regard to sites allotted to his wife Parvathi by MUDA, which had illegally occupied her land. “Not only has the MUDA accepted its mistake in writing, but the authority agreed to compensate her for the loss by giving alternative sites,” said Mr. Siddaramaiah.
The precedent
The MUDA followed the precedent set in an earlier case of a land owner by name Sundaramma. Her land was also illegally occupied by the MUDA and the High Court of Karnataka ordered MUDA to grant the same extent of land to her, he pointed out.
The 50:50 scheme is applicable in case of property owners who surrender their land to the MUDA, which allots 50% of the sites developed on the land in lieu of compensation. ‘’In our case, we did not surrender the land. Our land was illegally occupied by MUDA. Hence, compensatory site allotment was made,” said Mr. Siddaramaiah.
‘Authority is rotten’
Notably, he admitted that administration of the MUDA had deteriorated over the years. “The authority is rotten and needs to be cleansed. But that will be done only after the investigation is completed and a report is submitted to the government. The 50:50 scheme is in vogue in all urban development authorities, and is beneficial to the authority concerned, but the MUDA commissioners and others have misused the scheme,” he added.
Mr. Siddaramaiah questioned what MUDA members were doing when the land was illegally occupied, or when compensatory sites were allotted in lieu of the land, which was developed and sold by MUDA. On pegging the value of the land as ₹60 crore, Mr. Siddaramaiah said, “As per the land acquisition Act, compensation has to be paid at thrice the market rate, including rate of interest, all of which adds up to ₹62 crore.”
CM challenges BJP to prove allegations
Responding to the BJP’s proposed protest, Mr. Siddaramaiah said, ‘’Be it (State BJP president) B.Y. Vijayendra or (BJP national president) J.P. Nadda, we know to counter their politically motivated protests. If their argument is that the compensatory site allotted to my wife is illegal, let them prove their contention.”
Published - July 11, 2024 05:19 pm IST
