BDA sells BBMP school site to MLA-backed trust

The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has sold a huge civic amenities site, initially given to the BBMP to run a Kannada medium school, to a trust backed by an MLA.

The 26,253 sq ft site went for a fourth of its market value to a trust backed by BJP legislator M Chandrappa, and at the behest of former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, an RTI activist has found.

An internal BDA document indicates that BDA officials were under political pressure, with “oral and written instructions” from Yediyurappa, chief minister when the deal was sealed in 2010-11.

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The site is located in 2nd Block, Sir M Visvesvaraya Layout in Kengeri Upanagara on a 100-ft-wide road.

Initially measuring 24,111 sq ft, it was allotted to the BBMP on February, 2010. The BDA formally issued an allotment certificate on July 10 the same year.

Around the same time, M Chandrappa, MLA from Holalkere in Chitradurga district, wrote to Yediyurappa, requesting the site for his Devaraj Urs Education Society to build a school and convention hall.

Chandrappa’s letter, dated June, 2010, says he had applied for a CA site in Kumaraswamy Layout but the BDA had allotted it to some other trust. “Ordering allotment of alternative site,” Yeddyurappa wrote (in Kannada) on the letter. The file then went to the BDA for further action.

At a board meeting in November 2010, the BDA rejected Chandrappa’s application, saying he was not eligible for an alternative site as his trust had not been allotted a site at Kumaraswamy Layout in the first place.

According to the BDA, as many as 14 trusts had applied for the same site at Kumaraswamy Layout. It eventually allotted it to the Bharat Sanskrit Foundation on the basis of seniority.

An internal note also points out that the site could not be given to Devaraj Urs Education Society as it had already been allotted to the BBMP. At least four sections in the BDA said the request should not be met.

In a sudden turn of events, the BDA held a board meeting again in February, 2011, and decided to allot 24,111 sq ft to Devaraj Urs Education Society.

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The reason given was that the BBMP had not responded to the BDA’s letter asking if the site could be allotted to the MLA’s trust. The letter also mentions Yeddyurappa’s instructions. Subsequently, the state government approved the decision in July, 2011.

When DH called, Chandrappa claimed it was not an ‘alternative site’. “It has been allotted to us on lease for 30 years. Last year, we offered to buy it when the government came up with a scheme that allowed full ownership of CA sites. According to the BDA’s rate, I have paid Rs 1 crore and will pay the remaining Rs 9 crore in two instalments,” he told DH.

B M Shiva Kumar, president of Jayaprakash Narayana Vichara Vedike, who unearthed the documents under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, said it was a case of land grab ‘by twisting the rules’.

“The sale denies affordable education to the poor. The very basis of CM’s order lies on an incorrect claim. Once the sale deed is done, the BDA loses control over its ownership and what the allottees do with the site,” he said. He estimates the site is worth Rs 40 crore to Rs 50 crore.