BENGALURU: The state government on Wednesday decided to take the next step on a report filed in 2012 by then Minority Commission chairman Anwar Manippady on the alleged grabbing of wakf properties running into several thousand acres and valued over Rs 2 lakh crore. The government will study a Upa Lokayukta inquiry report, which authenticated the Manippady report.
“We will study the 13-volume report by the Upa Lokayukta and also furnish copies to members of the House for a detailed discussion as people of Karnataka should know the facts,” asserted Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, while replying to a calling attention motion in the Assembly by ruling BJP members Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, Raghupathy Bhat and Sanjiva Matanduru.
“When we are ready to discuss the baseless 40 per cent commission allegation against the government, why not discuss a big scam in which government properties worth over Rs 2 lakh crore were grabbed? Is there any bigger corruption than this? Wait and watch whose names will come out,” he said, in a warning to Congress leaders.
When deputy leader of opposition and Congress MLA UT Khader alleged that the Manippady report is being brought before the House to divert the attention from the 40 per cent commission scam, Raghupathy Bhat said Khader should keep his cool as his name does not figure in the report.
Yatnal insisted that the Wakf Board should be suspended and the case handed over to the CBI.
Law minister JC Madhu Swamy said. “We placed the report on the floor of the House following the High Court directions in 2020.”
Wakf Minister Shashikala Jolle said the report was tabled in both Houses in September 2020.
“About 27,000 acres of 54,000 acres of wakf properties worth Rs 2.3 lakh crore have been allegedly grabbed,” she said, adding that the report was rejected by the then Siddaramaiah government.
Manippady submitted his report to then chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda on March 26, 2012.
Highlights
Names of about a dozen senior Congress leaders figures in the Manipady report.
Of 54,000 acres of wakf properties, 29,000 acres were grabbed by accused leaders.
The government sent the Manippady report to the Lokayukta on July 4, 2012 to authenticate facts.
Upa Lokayukta Justice Anand submitted the report to the government on March 4, 2016.
RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF RELIGION BILL PASSED IN ASSEMBLY
The Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2022, was passed in the Assembly on Wednesday, even as Congress members staged a walk-out. The Bill was passed in the Council last Thursday with minor amendments, seeking to replace the Ordinance that was in place from May 2022. The same was passed in the Assembly. Around 2.30 pm in the Assembly, even as a heated debate raged while the Karnataka State Universities (Amendment) Bill was being passed, Congress MLA Krishna Byregowda approached Speaker Vishveshwara Hegde Kageri and whispered that the Opposition would walk out of the House, when the Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2022, would be placed for passage.