Shocking case at Belagola in Srirangapatna taluk of Mandya; Tahsildar submits report to Deputy Commissioner

By S.T. Ravikumar

Mysore/Mysuru: In a clear case of fence eating the crop, three Officers have been charged of blatantly ignoring the law to help a land owner develop a residential layout after encroaching upon14 guntas of land acquired for building a canal.

The shocking case has surfaced at Belagola village in Srirangapatna taluk, Mandya district and Tahsildar of Srirangapatna has filed a report including the charge-sheet against three Officers — Jayaramamurthy, previous Revenue Inspector of Srirangapatna taluk, Village Administration Officer Puttaswamy and Assistant Director of Town and Country Planning, K. Balachandar.

The charge-sheet filed under sub-sections 1 to 4 has been submitted to the Office of the Deputy Commissioner (DC), Mandya, on Dec. 28, 2023.

The incident came to light after Advocate S. Mahesh, a resident of Jayalakshmipuram in Mysuru, filed a complaint to Lokayukta Police. In his complaint, Advocate Mahesh had alleged that ‘14 guntas of the total 2.12 acres of land in Survey No. 44 at Belagola had been acquired for the construction of canal, but the alienation procedure has been approved including the total extent of the land covering the land meant for canal area, flouting all the rules. Following this, Srirangapatna Tahsildar had carried out a joint inspection with the Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) of No. 4, Varuna Canal Sub-Division,  Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Limited (CNNL), Mysuru and had submitted a report to the DC stating that the said part (14 guntas) of the land has been acquired for the canal.’

As the illegality was confirmed, DC in his letter to the Tahsildar on Dec. 6, 2023 had directed to submit a charge-sheet against the three Officers for aiding the land owner. Accordingly, the Tahsildar filed a charge-sheet, along with her findings to the DC on Dec. 28, 2023.

CNNL had acquired 14 guntas of land for canal works way back in the year 1990 and had also issued compensation to the land owner identified as Veerabhadraiah. Taking into consideration, the motive of the land owner to conceal the information while getting alienation certificate for the land in connivance with the Officers, a case has been also registered against him under Section 192-A of Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964 at KRS Police Station.