Mysuru: Accusing Kannada  Book Authority (KBA) Chairman Nandeesh Hanche of attempting to grab a MUDA site, four writers including senior Littérateur Prof. S.G. Siddarmaiah, also a former KBA Chairman, have written a letter to Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa seeking sacking of the incumbent  KBA Chairman.

In their joint letter to the CM on Monday, Prof. S.G. Siddaramaiah, Banjagere Jayaprakash (former KBA Chairman), Prof. Mahesh Chandra Guru (retd. Professor) and K.S. Shivaramu (State President of Bakward Classes Awareness Forum), accused Nandeesh Hanche of misusing his power to grab a  prime MUDA site in Vijayanagar Fourth Stage in the name of his wife.

Former Forest Officer Nagaraj had allegedly used his political  influence to simultaneously get sites at Bengaluru and Mysuru through BDA and MUDA respectively in 1994. But as some persons questioned the allotments, Nagaraj returned his 50×80 site (Site No. 3165) allotted to him by MUDA in Vijayanagar Fourth Stage, Second Phase, on Nov. 28, 2006. Following the return of site, MUDA had paid back Rs. 1.5 lakh to Nagaraj, which he had paid at the time of allotment. 

Nagaraj died in 2019 and MUDA officials had allegedly failed to make appropriate entries in their records regarding the return of the site by Nagaraj. But 14 years after the return of site, late Forest Officer Nagaraj’s wife Shashikala applied to MUDA on Aug. 13, 2020 seeking transfer of registration (Pauti Khata) of the site to her name.

The MUDA Commissioner, after allegedly bowing to the pressure of influential politicians, issued the Sale Deed on Sept.18 pertaining to the returned site, in the name of the applicant Shashikala within days after her application. The Commissioner also issued a clear Sale Deed on Oct. 21, 2020, they alleged.

Continuing, they alleged that MUDA, acting under pressure from Nandeesh Hanche and some influential politicians, had issued a Sale Deed in the name of Deepa, wife of Nandeesh Hanche. They also charged that Deepa, in a bid to cover up her husband’s (Nandeesh Hanche) name, had mentioned the name of her father.

Nandeesh Hanche had attempted to grab the site worth about Rs. 4 crore, by directly making a payment of just Rs. 60 lakh to Shashikala, in what clearly appears to be a dubious deal and as such the KBA Chairman should be sacked for misusing  his powers to grab the MUDA site by illegal means,          the letter said.