Karanataka High Court adjourned contempt litigation hearing on Kathagana Harry land embezzlement case

The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday adjourned till April 3 further hearing on a contempt of court petition, which said the State government failed to adhere to an undertaking given to the court in 2020 to implement Lokayukta’s recommendations to hold an inquiry into the correctness of claims over grant of lands, situation in Kethaganahalli village of Bidadi hobli of Ramnagara taluk, to certain individuals, from whom Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy and his relatives bought them a few years ago.

Meanwhile, the Judiciary Court, composed of Justice K. Somashekar and Justice Venkatesh Naik T., recorded a recorded report, submitted by Rajendra Kumar Kataria, Chief Secretary of the Taxation Bureau, who stated that the investigation into the land investigation was conducted after the notice was issued. The bench provides the government with 10 days to submit further reports.

Mr. Kataria also told the court that a special investigation team was checking the lands in investigations Nos. 7, 8, 9, 10, 16, 17 and 79 of Kethaganahalli and seeking more time to practice from the court. He also said that some files are missing in the file and the authenticity of some files must be determined.

The bench heard a petition for contempt filed in December 2020 by Samaj Parivarthan Samudaya, a non-governmental organization, which claimed that the government failed to comply with the commitments granted to the court in its July 2020 PIL petition filed.

In a report to the government on August 5, 2014, Lokayukta asked the tax bureau to “invest the grants to government lands (Gomala) or inadvertently investigate the figures 7, 8, 9, 9, 10, 16, 17 and 79 to the sellers/suppliers of the village of Kethaganahalli, the company’s life providers are the suppliers of these lands,

If such a land grant is found to be non-existent, then the necessary legal steps are taken to recover the possession of government land from the occupier, as well as criminal proceedings against guilty officials/officials,” the Lokayukta report said.

At an earlier contempt petition hearing, the court questioned the government’s inaction despite the proposal to implement Lokayukta five years ago, which later constituted a SIT to review the issue and take action. On March 18, the Ramanagara Regional Government marked certain lands owned by Mr. Kumaraswami, claiming that they were “encroached” on the government land.