Purchase 9 photocopying machines; to compile records from 2005 to 2024

Mysuru: The officers of Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) are grappling with an overwhelming task: Submitting eight lakh paper and ledger records to the Desai Commission, a one-man investigative body led by retired High Court Judge Justice P.N. Desai.

Established by the State Government, this Commission is tasked with probing the massive alternative site allotment scam, implicating top-level illegalities in MUDA’s site allocations.

With this monumental challenge, MUDA has been forced to purchase nine new photocopying machines, costing Rs. 19 lakh, to cope with the sheer volume of documents required for submission.

The staggering demand for records has placed immense pressure on MUDA officials, who must compile detailed documentation on illegal site allocations — including 50:50 ratio sites, incentive plots and alternative allotments — to present to the Commission.

All certified copies

The burden doesn’t stop there. The Desai Commission has mandated that every record submitted must be certified, a directive given to MUDA Commissioner A.N. Raghunandan, further increasing the workload. MUDA officials are racing against time to compile and verify documents from as far back as 2005 till 2024, especially the meeting minutes from all MUDA meetings since 2006.

To tackle this colossal administrative burden, MUDA has deployed the new machines alongside four existing ones, beginning the marathon task of photocopying thousands of pages. But the task is not simply about copying — every document must be certified, bound and prepared for submission.

What used to be a routine 10.30 am to 5 pm workday has now transformed into overnight shifts, with staff working through the night under immense pressure.

MUDA is also required to submit records concerning the approval of 14 alternative sites in Vijayanagar Third and Fourth Stages, allotted in exchange for 3.16 acres of land belonging to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife, B.M. Parvathi, to the Lokayukta. As the Lokayukta intensifies its investigation, MUDA officials are racing against clock to complete this laborious process.

A large team of officials and assistants is involved in this Herculean effort — from photocopying and certifying to binding and transporting these documents to the Commission’s office at Kumara Krupa Guest House in Bengaluru. MUDA officials are slogging through the night, navigating a sea of paperwork and mounting pressure in one of the State’s most significant corruption investigations.