Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah says allotment of MUDA plots in Mysuru for wife are lawful

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday maintained that the plots allotted to his wife Parvathamma by Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) was lawful and done in return for acquisition of her land.

Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) allotted plots to CM’s wife Parvathamma in a 50:50 ratio. Which meant she received half the land back in the form of developed plots.

The CM said his wife had 3 acre 16 guntas of land at Kesare village near Ring Road in Mysuru. The land came to her as a gift from her brother. The MUDA, however, took over the land in 1997 and carved out residential plots without acquiring it. After that, MUDA was bound to give them compensatory plots as per the law, and hence allotted on a 50:50 proportion basis, the CM told the media.

The plots were allotted during the BJP regime, Siddaramaiah maintained.

On Monday, Urban Development Minister Byrathi Suresh ordered the transfer of MUDA commissioner, secretary and other officials, pending a detailed investigation by a team of senior officials into all allotments of plots made on a 50:50 basis. He has put on hold all these allotments while asking the investigators to submit their report in two weeks. The MUDA will release the plots the allotment of which are found to be in order by the probe committee, the minister said.

Suresh maintained that though the government had, in 2020, came up with a scheme to compensate landowners on a 50:50 allotment basis in exceptional cases, there had been no Cabinet decision. Though the government had, in October last year, written to MUDA not to allot plots on a 50:50 basis without the approval of the Cabinet, MUDA had violated the rules, he said.