City services in limbo; public concern grows over incomplete investigations

Mysore/Mysuru: The Inquiry Committee formed by the State Government, under senior IAS Officer R. Venkatachalapathy, Commissioner of Urban Development Authorities and Town and Country Planning, to probe the MUDA land scams, has still not resumed its investigation after departing for Bengaluru last Friday (July 12).

The team began the probe in the first week of July and had been stationed in Mysuru until July 12. Before leaving for Bengaluru, the team sealed the MUDA Meeting Hall containing files and records, informing the MUDA officers that they would return on Monday (July 15), as July 13 (Saturday) was a Second Saturday holiday and Sunday (July 14) was a general holiday.

MUDA officers expected the team to return on July 15. However, there was no information about the team’s arrival on Tuesday (July 16) and Wednesday (July 17). Moreover, July 17 was a Government holiday for Moharram, leading MUDA officers to assume the team would return on Thursday, July 18.

However, even as the MUDA officers waited for the team yesterday, the Inquiry Committee did not return, leading to confusion among the MUDA officers. The team did not return even on July 19 (today).

Additionally, the State Government has constituted a One-Man Judicial Commission, headed by Justice Padmaraj Nemachandra Desai, a retired Judge of the Karnataka High Court, to investigate the                    MUDA scam in parallel, even before the Inquiry Committee completed its probe and submitted its report.

Sources in MUDA told the Star of Mysore that the Government might have recalled the officers in the Inquiry Committee for their routine work in Bengaluru.

Only initial uproar

Meanwhile, even the One-Man Judicial Commission is yet to begin investigating the irregularities. Alert public who have been observing these developments are bewildered to see neither the Inquiry Committee submitting its interim or final report nor the One-Man Judicial Commission beginning the probe after the initial brouhaha over the reports of misuse of money and power.

These developments, sources say, indicate that the Government is not serious about uncovering the truth in MUDA affairs and is protecting the politicians, the rich and the powerful.

In the meantime, all routine public service activities in MUDA have come to a complete standstill. Officers can neither accept new applications nor finish pending work. Even development works have stopped, as the Government has made clear that no activity can take place unless the investigation is complete.