Date:06/05/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/05/06/stories/2007050605720400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Auction of government land a farce, says Somashekar

Special Correspondent

JD(U) to hold rally of poor people dispossessed of land

B. Somashekar

Bangalore: The former Revenue Minister B. Somashekar, who is president of the State unit of the Janata Dal (United), has said that the auction of government land in and around Bangalore "is nothing more than a farce to hoodwink the people".

`Land undervalued'

He said the bids for the land auctioned in the recent past were way below the guidance value, which was tantamount to the land being undervalued. "I fail to understand how the Government can be a party to such a blatant violation of the law."

Although the Government has said it will go in for re-auction, it was improper for the officials concerned to have gone ahead with the auctions when the bids did not match the reserve price, Mr. Somashekar said. "The auctions are a way for land grabbers to take legal possession of land at a low price."

Officials in the Revenue Department, however, said most of the auctions had fetched a price that was higher than the guidance value. In cases where the bids were low, a report had been sent to the Government for re-auctioning such properties. There was nothing illegal in the auctions. Some of the bids were 400 per cent above the guidance value, they said.

Amendments made

As the Revenue Minister, Mr. Somashekar was responsible for several amendments to the Karnataka Land Revenue Act and the Karnataka Stamp Act aimed at preventing unauthorised occupation of government land and simultaneously enabling ownership to be transferred to poor people occupying small tracts of government land.

He said the Government should recover its land occupied by some "politicians and officials. All such land is still being held by the very same people or their benami occupants." Most of the land auctioned so far had been occupied by the poor, particularly slum dwellers. Under Section 94 (b) of the Land Revenue Act, they should have been given ownership of the land. Most of them had been living there for nearly two decades.

Mr. Somashekar said a representation would be made to the Union Government to investigate the background of the people who had purchased land in the recent auctions.

"A section of them are land grabbers, and they purchased the land with political and official connivance," he charged.

The JD(U) will be organising a rally of people who have been dispossessed of their land and houses. The rally will proceed from Ramanagaram to the Raj Bhavan on May 12.