The Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) on Tuesday, October 1, decided to take back 14 plots allotted to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's wife Parvathi B M. The development comes a day after she decided to relinquish the ownership and possession of the 14 plots. The MUDA has also ordered to cancel the sale deed of these plots.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) booked Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in a money laundering case, reacting to which his wife on Monday wrote to MUDA expressing her decision to relinquish the ownership and possession of all 14 plots. She stated that no site, home, asset, or wealth holds more value for her than her husband’s respect, dignity, honour, and peace of mind.
"Smt. Parvathi's son Dr Yathindra, a MLC, had submitted a letter....we have gone through the provisions in our act. There are provisions in our act to take it when given (back) voluntarily," news agency PTI quoted MUDA Commissioner A N Raghunandan as saying.
"After consulting panel advocates and the legal officer, and after determining that everything is correct, we arrived at a conclusion. So, we have ordered to take it back. We have ordered to cancel the sale deed and handed it over to the sub-registrar," he added.
The ED registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), which is equivalent to an FIR by police, against Siddaramaiah over the alleged irregularities in the allotment of 14 plots to his wife by the MUDA.
Following an order from a Special Court, the Lokayukta police on September 27 lodged an FIR against Siddaramaiah, his wife, brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy, and others. Another person Devaraju, from whom Mallikarjuna Swamy purchased land and gifted it to Parvathi (Siddaramaiah's wife) was also named in the FIR.
The Special Court Judge, Santhosh Gajanan Bhat, passed the order a day after the High Court upheld the sanction granted by the Governor to initiate a probe against Siddaramaiah in connection with the site allotment.
What Is The MUDA Scam?
In the MUDA site allotment case, it is alleged that 14 compensatory sites were allotted to CM Siddaramaiah's wife in an upmarket area in Mysuru (Vijayanagar Layout 3rd and 4th stages). It is said that these sites had a higher property value as compared to the location of her land which MUDA had "acquired".
These plots were allotted to Parvathi under a 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of 3.16 acres of her land, where the MUDA developed a residential layout.
Under this controversial ratio scheme, MUDA allotted 50 per cent of developed land to the land losers in exchange for the undeveloped land acquired from them.
However, it is alleged that the CM's wife had no legal title over this 3.16 acres of land, located at survey number 464 of Kasare village in Mysuru taluk's Kasaba hobli.