The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has filed a grievance towards six retired authorities officers over a fraudulent transaction of Switch of Growth Rights (TDR) that purportedly benefited a real-estate developer. The people have been accused of prison breach of belief and dishonest, leading to losses to the state exchequer.
Among the many accused are retired government engineer Ramegowda D, retired joint commissioner Devaraj KS, retired assistant joint commissioner Umanand Rai, retired assistant tahsildar Gangegowda MA, retired surveyor Gullappa, and retired village accountant Agasemani.
Though the alleged fraud occurred in 2015, an FIR was registered lately following a court docket case associated to the problem. The TDR refers back to the scheme initiated by the BBMP to subject Growth Proper Certificates (DRCs) to property homeowners in trade for the land handed over to the civic company for improvement works equivalent to roads. The DRCs can be utilized both by homeowners throughout development in alternate websites or might be bought to real-estate builders.
In 2015, the officers concerned within the case issued DRCs for 1,116 sq. metres in trade for developmental works carried out by the BBMP in 57 sq. metre property and a constructing constructed on it at KR Puram Hobli, which falls below the Mahadevapura zone of the BBMP. Nonetheless, primarily based on the steerage worth of the mentioned property, officers may have issued DRCs for 221 sq. metres.
The proprietor of the property DK Venugopal bought the DRCs to a personal developer. When the developer submitted the DRC for revalidation to the Mahadevapura zonal workplace, it was discovered that the unique paperwork primarily based on which the DRC was issued have been lacking on the workplace. A lacking case was additionally filed in reference to the problem in 2020.
The grievance filed by the BBMP earlier this week on the Halsurgate Police Station alleged that the officers concerned violated established norms and issued DRCs for “private acquire”.
Notably, the TDR scheme of the BBMP is mired in controversy and a number of other irregularities have been reported up to now. The now-defunct Anti-Corruption Bureau had unearthed a large rip-off within the scheme that may now be probed by Karnataka Lokayukta.