Social activist SR Hiremath has alleged that a private company caused a loss of Rs 2.7 crore to the state government by fraudulent sale of a piece of land, abetted by a government agency itself.
Hiremath, the chairperson of National Committee for Protection of Natural Resources (NCPNR), leveled the allegations at a press meet on Saturday. He said the owners of Joy Ice Creams Ltd violated the condition at which they had been allotted a piece of government land at Pattandur Agrahara (Bangalore East taluk). He said the then special deputy commissioner of Bangalore Urban district had allotted three acres and 23 guntas of grazing land to the company in March 2005.
Hiremath said the company got the land for Rs 4.28 crore, which was half of its then market value. The then special DC had given the land for that price on the condition that the site would be used only to set up a software technology park.
However, the NCPNR chairperson alleged, the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) executed a sale deed (not a lease-cum-sale deed) in July 2006, not mentioning any condition on the sale of land.
Merely a month later, Joy Ice Creams sold the piece of land to Prestige Properties Group for Rs 6.97 crore, pocketing a good Rs 2.7 crore, which, otherwise, would have gone to the government's coffers.
Hiremath said the advocate general is of the opinion that the grant should be canceled, but the papers are being tossed between the offices of the deputy commissioner and the KIADB.
He demanded that the government declare the allotment of land to Joy Ice Creams as invalid and prosecute those who abetted the sale without enforcing the conditions the then special DC had mentioned.
