BDA chairman S R Vishwanath in dock for illegal site allotments

The illegal allotment of sites in the upscale RMV extension in Bengaluru, which has come under the scanner of the Supreme Court, is likely to put S R Vishwanath, chairman of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), in trouble.

A three-time MLA from Yelahanka, Vishwanath was also heading the sub-committee for alternative site allotment by usurping the executive powers of the commissioner.

Ever since the Section 11A (Allotment of Alternative Site) was incorporated in the BDA Act, no political appointee was made the head of the allotment committee as it is an ex-officio post held by successive commissioners.

This 18-year-long tradition was broken and the structure of the allotment committee changed in 2021, when Vishwanath was made the chairman of the committee, show documents available with DH.

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Interestingly, the decision to restructure the composition of the committee was taken up at the Board meeting where Vishwanath himself is the chairman. The commissioner has been made a member of the committee.

Speaking to DH, Vishwanath said the allotment committee was restructured to stop illegal allotment of sites, which was prevalent in the BDA before he took charge as the chairman.

“When a file is put up before the committee, it passes through several tables. The law department had cleared the allotment of alternative sites in RMV layout. The mistake happened due to confusion in the SC’s order,” he said.

To a question on accountability, Vishwanath said the chairman cannot be solely responsible for the allotments.

“The Chief Minister clears hundreds of files with the belief that the officers have done due diligence. Among the seven allotments in the RMV layout, there was an error in the allotment of only two sites. Rest of the allottees were given sites in the same layout a while ago, but there were disputes,” Vishwanath said. He hoped the Supreme Court would review its order.

Besides the seven sites that were allotted in the RMV extension illegally, it’s learnt that close to 90 alternative sites were allotted by the BDA by flouting the Supreme Court’s October judgement.

The court had ordered disposal of sites formed in the fully-developed layouts only through public auction. Alternative sites, the court had said, can be allotted only in the new layouts formed by the authority.

BM Shivakumar, President of Jayaprakash Narayan Vichara Vedike, said the BDA Act was amended in 2003 to protect the allottees who are unable to take custody of the sites due to litigations or any other issues.

“The commissioner, who is an IAS officer, was always the chairman of the allotment committee. Such a powerful post cannot be delegated to a political appointee as there will be no accountability. The commissioner and the chairman have breached the trust of the people,” he said.

I will take legal recourse: Araga Jnanendra

Home Minister Araga Jnanendra, who was allotted a site in RMV Extension, said he would approach the court against the BDA. “The BDA had allotted a site to me 17 years ago. Despite paying sanction fee thrice, the site was taken back citing different reasons,” he said. “I have not used any influence and misused my powers. Many MLAs and ministers are beneficiaries of G category sites."

Among the allottees in RMV 2nd stage are: Bagalkot MLA Veeranna C Charantimath, Belagavi South MLA Abhaya Patil, former MP Basavaraj Patil Sedam, former Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) member M Nagaraj, Indira (identity unknown) and Geetha Reddy, who is related to KS Jagadish Reddy, deputy secretary at Urban Development Department.