RTI activists flag 100% stench in Mysuru Urban Development Authority's 50:50 botch-up

BENGALURU: Mysuru Urban Development Authority (Muda) is found to have allocated sites to beneficiaries, including chief minister Siddaramaiah's wife Parvathi, under a scrapped 50:50 ratio scheme. The scheme, originally introduced in 2009, was scrapped in September 2020, but revived during the Covid-19 pandemic by Muda, without seeking permission from the then BJP govt.
"This is illegal.The body [Muda] cannot revive a cancelled scheme. It could have been revived only through an amendment by the state legislature," said an RTI activist.
The scheme aimed at allotting a portion of developed land as compensation to those who had lost their land to acquisition by Muda, with the land given away being necessarily a part of the same area from where it was acquired for developing a layout.
However, it later came to light that in a gross violation of norms, Muda gave away sites in prime locations that fetched a fortune to landowners, the CM's wife being one of the beneficiaries of such largesse. Parvathi received 14 alternative sites of various sizes in Vijayanagar III and IV in east Mysuru.
"This, too, is illegal as alternative sites can be allotted only in that particular layout or in upcoming layouts," another RTI activist said.
The scam started unravelling after BJP MLA TS Srivatsa wrote to the chief secretary on June 26, 2024, demanding a probe into the allotment of sites under the scrapped 50:50 scheme in October 2023. According to RTI activists, site distribution under this scheme was rampant from 2021 to 2023.
Former Muda employee PS Nataraj, who had served as an assistant director for town planning, has lodged a complaint with deputy commissioner KV Rajendra, seeking details about the total number of sites distributed under the 50:50 scheme since November 2020.
Nataraj accused several former Muda employees -- including former chairmen HV Rajiv and Yashaswini Somashekar, commissioners DB Natesh and GT Dinesh Kumar, special land acquisition officers Harshavardhan and Vishnuvardhan Reddy, and other officers -- of being complicit in this irregularity.
Deputy commissioner KV Rajendra had written to Muda, seeking an explanation, but didn't receive a response. He then escalated the matter to the Urban Department secretary, though it remains unresolved.