BENGALURU: The Bangalore Development Authority has written to the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) calling for disciplinary action against three KAS officers responsible for the bulk sale of sites at throwaway prices in Arkavathy Layout. On its part, the Authority also suspended four case workers and three supervisors for their involvement in the scam.
The superintendent of the BDA Task Force submitted its inquiry report to the BDA secretary and commissioner recently.
Speaking to The New Indian Express a senior official said the BDA was set to suffer a loss of almost `35 crore in the process. It was initially said the loss would be between `10 and `15 crore when the scam came to light.
“One of the KAS officers, Deputy Secretary (IV) Sathish Babu continues his duty at the BDA as the authority does not have powers to take any action against him,” the official said. “We have sent a request to the DPAR to take action against him and two other former deputy secretaries of the BDA,” he added.
While the inquiry officer did not answer any calls from the reporter, an official said the buyers connivance had been established in the report.
A report carried by TNIE had highlighted the scam unearthed by BDA Commissioner Rakesh Singh in its issue dated April 29. A top official said, “They concealed it from the Commissioner, whose permission is mandatory in case of bulk sale of sites. They also offered 40x60 sq ft sites in exchange of 30x40 sq ft sites,” another official explained. The plan to sell a total of 66 sites were foiled though.
Asked if any action is proposed against the BDA staffers, Additional Chief Secretary of Urban Development, BDA’s parent department, Mahendra Jain said, “I have asked for all the files pertaining to the matter to be handed over to my department in a day or two.”