SDA too held for fabricating documents of Government land

Hunsur: Former Hunsur City Municipal Council (CMC) Commissioner Shivappa Nayaka (now under suspension) has been arrested for creating fabricated documents for a six-acre Government land and issuing khata for the same land to private persons.

Second Division Assistant (SDA) H.A. Anitha Kumari, who is at present serving as SDA at Saragur Town Panchayat, has also been arrested for colluding with Shivappa Nayaka in creating fake documents. The arrests were made yesterday by Hunsur Town Police and the Court has sent the duo to judicial custody.

Shivappa Nayaka was earlier placed under suspension on charges of irregularities and violation of rules. The charges included causing loss to the State exchequer by improper allotment of 109 shops owned by the CMC in violation of the Deputy Commissioner’s directives.

He was also accused of negligence in collection of water bills, illegal sanction of power connection to unauthorised buildings that have come up on revenue land. As the charges were proved, the Directorate of Municipal Administration had ordered the suspension of Shivappa Nayaka. Now with his arrest, fresh trouble is brewing for the officer.

Case history

The officials of Hunsur CMC were in search of a Government-owned wetland for UGD works and they found a land that extended up to 6.8 acres under Survey Number 237. The officials identified it as a B-Kharab (Government land) and accordingly, Hunsur Tahsildar had asked the CMC officials to use the land for UGD wetland.

When the CMC official visited the land for a survey and demarcation, they found that Ramesh, a deed writer of Gurupura, had constructed a building on the land. When Ramesh was asked to produce documents for the land, he produced the documents that were issued to him by the CMC.

On examination, the officials found that the documents carried the signatures of H.A. Anitha Kumari who created the fake documents and Shivappa Nayaka for approving the land transfer. In fact, the documents were fabricated to hide the Government land and the same was transferred to Ramesh.

Following the unearthing of irregularities, Tahsildar complained to the Police who registered an FIR under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and began investigation. The Police team found that both Shivappa Nayaka and Anitha Kumari had blatantly violated Government orders and had handed over public land to private parties through fake documents.

Investigation also revealed that apart from Ramesh, the Government land has been handed over to several persons and one of them had converted the property into 30×40 sites and had sold to buyers. Some have even laid foundations to build houses unaware of the fact that it is Government land.

CMC Members H.P. Satish Kumar and Swami Gowda had brought the issue to the notice of MLA H.P. Manjunath who had raised the same at a meeting with Mysuru District Minister S.T. Somashekar who had asked the officials to take strict action to recover Government land.