‘Confident of getting justice’, says CM

Bengaluru: A day after Karnataka High Court completed hearing and reserved its verdict on his petition challenging legality of Governor’s approval for investigation against him in a site allotment case, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said he is confident of getting justice, as he has committed no wrong.

Terming as “false” the allegations against him -- illegalities in the allotment of 14 sites to his wife in a layout by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) --, he asserted that he will do no wrong in the future too, and that his life was an open book.

“...let them (the opposition) lie, we won’t care for it. They are making false allegations against me. I have respect for the law of this land, I have respect for the court’s verdicts, I’m confident about getting justice, because I have committed no wrong,” Siddaramaiah said.

Addressing an event at Magadi on the city outskirts, he said: “I have done no wrong, will not do it, and will not do it in the future too. It has been 40 years since I became Minister (for the first time), my life is an open book, I’m saying it very clearly that anyone can open and see it.”

The High Court on Thursday also extended its August 19 interim order directing the special court for people’s representatives that was slated to hear complaints against him in the case, to defer its proceedings till the disposal of the petition.

The Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot on August 16 accorded sanction under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Section 218 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 for the commission of the alleged offences as mentioned in the petitions submitted to him by complainants Pradeep Kumar S P, T J Abraham and Snehamayi Krishna.

On August 19, Siddaramaiah moved the High Court challenging the legality of the Governor’s order.

In the MUDA ‘scam’, it is alleged that compensatory sites were allotted to Siddaramaiah’s wife B M Parvathi in an upmarket area in Mysuru, which had higher property value as compared to the location of her land which had been “acquired” by the MUDA.

The MUDA had allotted plots to Parvathi under a 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of 3.16 acres of her land, where MUDA developed a residential layout.

Under the controversial scheme, MUDA allotted 50 per cent of developed land to the land losers in lieu of undeveloped land acquired from them for forming residential layouts. Some Opposition leaders and activists have also claimed that Parvathi had no legal title over this 3.16 acres of land.