Taking serious note of the statement by former additional chief secretary V Balasubramanian, the Assembly referred it to the Privileges Committee after a heated debate by the members of the House.
Moving the motion, former speaker S Ramesh Kumar said the comments by Balasubramanian in an interview to a newspaper questioned the integrity of politicians. “The former bureaucrat has also on many occasions named me as an encroacher, violating the regulations that govern this House,” he added.
Kumar said the court concerned had given a judgment in favour of him in the land grab case alleged by Balasubramanian. “But Balasubramanian has charged that I manipulated the court and prevailed on the officials,” he contended.
Questioning the audacity of Balasubramanian, who was chairman of the public land protection and recovery task force, for commenting a day after the court judgment, Kumar said: “His comments have questioned my very existence and integrity, even after I have served in various capacities in the Public Accounts Committee.”
Kumar said Balasubramanian had visited his farm with a convoy of 70 vehicles without serving prior notice. “I purchased that land paying between Rs 8,000 and Rs 13,000 per acre from those who were allotted the land and were in possession from 1949. Though I donated the land for a school and other public purposes in my village and my constituency, officials, instead of going into records and the clean chit given by revenue officials, have accused of encroaching forest land just because my farm borders it,” he said.
Calling Balasubramanian a ‘Hitler,’ he appealed to Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa to intervene give the case to the Privileges Committee. Former speaker K G Bopaiah also appealed to the Speaker to refer the matter to the Committee, which was supported by others.