Mysuru, 1 Oct

The Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) on Tuesday decided to take back 14 plots allotted to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's wife Parvathi BM, following her decision to relinquish their ownership and possession. The MUDA has ordered to cancel the sale deed of these plots.

Hours after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) booked Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in a money laundering case, his wife on Monday wrote to MUDA conveying her decision to relinquish the ownership and possession of 14 plots stating that no site, home, asset and wealth is bigger for her than her husband’s respect, dignity, honour and peace of mind.

"Smt. Parvathi's son Dr Yathindra, a MLC, had submitted a letter....we have gone through the provisions in our act. There are provisions in our act to take it when given (back) voluntarily," MUDA Commissioner AN Raghunandan said.

Addressing reporters here, he said, "After consulting panel advocates and the legal officer, and after determining that everything is correct, we arrived at a conclusion. So, we have ordered to take it back. We have ordered to cancel the sale deed and handed it over to the sub registrar."

On Monday, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), equivalent to an FIR by police, against the Chief Minister over the alleged irregularities in allotment of 14 sites to his wife by the MUDA.

The Lokayukta police on 27 September registered an FIR against Siddaramaiah, his wife, brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy, Devaraju -- from whom Mallikarjuna Swamy purchased land and gifted it to Parvathi -- and others, following a Special Court order.

The order of the Special Court Judge, Santhosh Gajanan Bhat, came a day after the High Court upheld the sanction granted by the Governor to conduct an investigation against Siddaramaiah.

In the MUDA site allotment case, it is alleged that 14 compensatory sites were allotted to Siddaramaiah's wife in an upmarket area in Mysuru (Vijayanagar Layout 3rd and 4th stages), which had higher property value as compared to the location of her land which had been "acquired" by MUDA.

The MUDA had allotted plots to Parvathi under a 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of 3.16 acres of her land, where it 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. It is alleged that Parvathi had no legal title over this 3.16 acres of land at survey number 464 of Kasare village, Kasaba hobli of Mysuru taluk.