Activist T.J. Abraham urges MUDA to withdraw sites allotted to CM’s wife

Mysore/Mysuru: Continuing his legal battle, advocate and activist T.J. Abraham, who is the President of the Anti-Graft/Corruption and Environmental Forum, yesterday moved a fresh petition before the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) seeking the revocation of the 14 sites allocated to CM Siddaramaiah’s wife B.M. Parvathi under the 50:50 land allotment scheme.

Meeting Commissioner A.N. Raghunandan at the MUDA Office yesterday, Abraham contended that the land for which alternative sites were allotted by MUDA to Parvathi did not even belong to the CM’s family in the first place.

Layouts at Kesare in 2001

Speaking to reporters, Abraham said that Siddaramaiah’s wife had been illegally allotted 14 residential sites in Vijayanagar 3rd and 4th Stage, as the 3 acres and 16 guntas of land in Kesare that she claimed to own had been developed into MUDA’s Devanur 3rd Phase Layout in 2001, even before her brother Mallikarjunaswamy could purchase it in 2004.

“As per statements by Siddaramaiah, his brother-in-law Mallikarjunaswamy bought agricultural land at Kesare village in Mysuru city in 2004. My question is, were there farmlands in Kesare, which were taken over by MUDA in the early 2000s? As per documents, residential layouts were established in Kesare in 2001. How can residential sites be bought by a person as farmland? What is the need to convert lands that are already residential sites?” advocate Abraham asked.

Conversion order by DC in 2005

He also raised questions over the conversion (through denotification) of 3 acres and 16 guntas of ‘agricultural’ land in Sy. No. 464 at Kesare for ‘residential’ purposes by the Mysuru Deputy Commissioner in 2005, as MUDA had already developed the Devanur 3rd Phase residential layout on the same plot of land and distributed the sites.

“Which agricultural land did the Tahsildar and Deputy Commissioner inspect before issuing orders for converting the land into residential purposes?” he questioned.

Dr. Yathindra was on MUDA Board

“When the compensation and alternative lands were being distributed to Siddaramaiah’s wife, their son Dr. Yathindra Siddaramaiah was the Varuna MLA and attended important meetings of various government agencies, including the MUDA Board. Does it not amount to nepotism?” Abraham asked.

Abraham claimed that the value of the 14 MUDA sites allotted to Siddaramaiah’s wife was around Rs. 55 crore, and urged the MUDA Commissioner to withdraw the allotment as the sites must return to the State. He said he would wait and see if MUDA would take back the sites allotted to Siddaramaiah’s wife. “Or else, I will pursue the case legally,” he said.