Bangalore : The Karnataka high court on Thursday ordered notice to former chief ministers HD Kumaraswamy and BS Yeddyurappa, and the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) with regard to a PIL seeking a CBI probe into denotification of BDA acquired land in Bangalore city.

A division bench headed by acting Chief Justice K Sreedhar Rao also ordered notice to the state government, BDA and CBI on the petition filed by Jayakumar Hiremath, an RTI activist.

“A performance audit was conducted from February 2012 to July 2012, covering the period 2007-12 during which the government denotified 212.39 acres of land, possession of which had been taken. It is stated that during the period there exist 126 cases of denotification, but the audit sample covered only 40% of the cases denotified during the period. However, the CAG has opined that the pattern is the same in all the cases of denotification, due to which public interest has been hurt…” the petitioner has stated.

Push for CBI Probe

“The persons found to be involved in the shady deals in question are persons of high position and criminal action against such people cannot be expected in the ordinary course. Political parties who have tasted power till date are not interested in taking up the issue… The magnitude of the scam is very huge and comparable to the 2G spectrum scam, which the CBI has already investigated… The scam revealed in the CAG report also deserves to be referred to the CBI with a direction to conduct a thorough investigation on all the matters referred to in the report and take up follow-up action in wider public interest,” the petitioner has added.

The petitioner had already filed a private complaint against home minister R Ashoka and former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa before the special Lokayukta court, wherein the Lokayukta police filed a B report which is now under challenge.
                         
Removal of Hoardings on Bia Road

Justice Rammohan Reddy on Thursday directed the state government to file an action taken report with regard to the removal of hoardings on either side of the national highway leading to BIA. The judge also directed the JMFC at Devanahalli to dispose of the suits pending before it, relating to hoardings.

The government advocate informed the court that out of 191 hoardings, 157 had been removed and there is a stay order from the local court with respect to the remaining 34 (33 in Anneshwara GP jurisdiction) hoardings.

The court was also informed that a new model bylaw was issued on February 18 through a gazette notification. The court asked the local GPs to strictly adhere to the new guidelines.-Times of India