NEWDELHI/BANGALORE: : Stating that serious illegalities and irregularities and misuse of public office for the benefit of the close relatives of the then chief minister of Karnataka, B S Yeddyurappa, have taken place, the Supreme Court-appointed central empowered committee on Friday recommended to the Apex Court that the CBI probe payments made by a mining company to two firms owned by close relatives of Yeddyurappa.
The CEC stated that during the tenure of Yeddyurappa as deputy chief minister, part of the land notified for acquisition for the formation of the Arkavathy Layout was denotified to enable B Y Vijayendra and B Y Raghavendra, Yeddyurappa’s sons, and R N Sohan Kumar, son-in-law of Yeddyurappa, purchase the plots at the low costs.
This land, required for the layout, included 1.12 acres of land in Survey No 55/2 in village Rachenahalli, Bangalore taluk. It belonged to Gowramma, w/o Govindappa and Panduranga, s/o Munivenkatappa.
Out of the 1.12 acres, Vijayendra and Sohan Kumar had purchased 20 guntas (0.5 acre) of the land by a sale deed dated March 22, 2006. And Raghavendra had purchased another 20 guntas (0.5 acre) on April 21, 2006. All the three were bought for `20 lakh each, the CEC submitted.
Later on, Vijayendra and Sohan Kumar sold their respective chunks of land that they had purchased to South West Mining Ltd, a group company of Jindal Company, for `10 crore.
Raghavendra also sold his land to the same company for `10 crore. Yeddyurappa was the deputy chief minister when his sons purchased the land.
On a representation, the Commissioner, BDA, submitted a report to the state government on September 24, 2008, stating that the final notification for land acquisition has been issued, but award has not been passed for the land. The matter was dealt with in the government file and it has been noted that since possession of the land has not yet been taken, there is no legal impediment for the de-notification of the land.
Thereafter, the decision to denotify the land from acquisition was taken by the then chief minister. The other part of the noting — that the proposal needs to be brought before the De-Notification Committee — was not considered, CEC pointed out.
The CEC further stated that Section 3 of the Karnataka Land (Restriction on Transfer) Act, 1991, prohibits sale, etc, of the urban lands acquired by the government under the Land Acquisition Act or under any other land providing for acquisition of land for public purpose.
The CEC stated that as per the permission granted for conversion of the land, from agriculture to non-agriculture, the land can be used for residential purpose only. But the company to which the land was sold says that the land would be used for the construction of offices as well as a guest house, etc.
Calling for a CBI probe into the sale of land and donations received by Prerana Education Society set up by Yeddyurappa’s relatives, it said two cheques of `5 crore each from South West Mining were received by the Prerana Society.