BENGALURU: The apex court on Wednesday came down heavily on the State government for not taking stern action against farmer leader Kodihalli Chandrashekhar for obstructing a panel appointed by it to sort out issues in the Dr Shivaram Karanth Layout. Questioning why a criminal case had not been filed against him so far, it ordered the Advocate General of Karnataka to do so immediately, said a highly placed BDA source.
The two-judge bench comprising Judges Abdul S. Nazir and Sanjiv Khanna were delivering their verdict during a virtual hearing on a report filed by the Chairman of the three-member Committee, former High Court judge Justice A V Chandrashekhar. Prabhuling K Navadagi, AG, was representing the State government in the hearing while advocate S K Kulkarni represented BDA.
The Committee had been set up the Court to identify lawful constructions that have come up at the Layout before August 3, 2018. On March 9, the Committee had issued a show cause notice to Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) president Kodihalli Chandrashekhar for frustrating its efforts by spreading misinformation in 17 villages and asking public not to co-operate with it. It also asked him to explain his action amounting to contempt of the apex court before March 15, failing which appropriate action would be taken against him. Following no response from him, the Committee approached the SC.
Taking a serious note that very little progress had been made on the land acquisition front, it has ordered the BDA to transfer the Deputy Commissioner, Land Acquistions, BDA Shivraj within a fortnight. “The DC Shivaraj had earlier told the SC in an affidavit that land acquisition awards for 250 acres were done but now said that it was completed in only over 60 acres,” the source said. The judges were very unhappy with his response and wanted the DC to be transferred immediately, the source added.
The Court also wanted to know why no action had been taken on the Justice K N Keshavanarayana inquiry report submitted in 2018. The report fixed responsibility on BDA and State government officials for excluding huge tracts of land during formation of the layout.