from special correspondent

Bangalore: A private complaint filed in the Lokayukta special court by journalist Nagalakshmibai against former chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda and his wife will come up for hearing on September 22.

The charges are related to buying of land meant for cattle-grazing in violation of rules and obtaining sites under G category by filing false affidavits. After obtaining clarifications from the complainant and her advocate, Judge N K Sudhindra Rao admitted the petition on the basis of evidence provided and adjourned the hearing to Sep 22.

The charges against the couple:

In 2008, Datty Sadananda Gowda purchased 7.5 'gunte' land earmarked for cattle-grazing in Bagalur village in Jala hobli of northern Bangalore taluk. (One 'gunte' represents an area of 121 square yards or one fortieth part of an acre.)

The land is said to have been originally sanctioned for the use of Edagai Chikka Maliga under scheduled caste and tribe category. In spite of the mandatory requirement that the plot must not be alienated for 20 years, Datty has been alleged to have purchased it his her name through a person called Ravi.

Those with annual an income of Rs 2 lakh are not eligible to buy any agricultural land. But in violation of the Land Reform Act, she is said to have purchased the said 7.5 gunte plot for a sum as low as Rs 4.70 lakh.

On the same plot, a huge house has been built over an expanse of 8167.5 square feet by the Gowdas. No plan of the building had been submitted to the authorities and no 'khata' had been obtained. The building has been constructed without even having got the land converted to non-agricultural purposes, the complainant has alleged.

The complainant has further alleged that even though the huge building had been erected, no mention of it has been made in the statement of assets and liabilities submitted to the Lokayukta before the last elections. The information about the house has been suppressed, the complaint says.

Nagalakshmi has further alleged that Gowda had got sanctioned in his favour 10 'gunte' government land in Puttur during his tenure as MLA there. By submitting a false affidavit that neither he or his dependents had any land in their names, he obtained a 50 80-ft site in HSR layout, sector 3 in Bangalore in his name.

It is also alleged that he subsequently bought an adjacent site belonging to MLA Jeevaraj (now minister), combined both of them without approval and built a five-storey commercial complex.

Sources close to the family said that there was a background to this matter suddenly coming up. In the recent tussle between between Yeddyurappa and Gowda factions, the former thought of this master-stroke to the silence the latter.

It may be recalled here that Gowda had complained to the BJP high command that BSY had recently sent teams to Puttur, Mangalore, Puttur and other places to collect information on the properties acquired by the Gowda family. There are rumours around that the journalist has been put up by Yeddyurappa himself as a proxy, after collecting comprehensive information on Gowda's property in different places.

Now that Gowda is out of power and with Yeddyurappa making every effort to scuttle the former's chances of taking over as state party president, it will be interesting to watch further developments.