BJP seeks to put Siddaramaiah on mat over Arkavathy Layout report

BENGALURU : A fresh row has erupted between the BJP and governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot on one side and the Congress govt on the other, with the saffron party seeking Raj Bhavan’s intervention in the release of the Justice Kempanna commission report on the Arkavathy Layout “re-do” scam.
In a letter to the govt and the governor on Aug 24, BJP MLC CT Ravi said it was Siddaramaiah who had set up the Justice Kempanna commis sion to investigate the alleged 852-acre Arkavathy Layout scam during his previous stint as chief minister in 2014.
“Justice Kempanna has since submitted his findings to the govt,” Ravi states in his letter. “Judicial inquiry reports are deemed public documents, and it is the govt’s obligation to ensure they are accessible to the public. Regrettably, it appears that the chief minister’s office has not made this report available for public review.”
Based on this letter, Raj Bhavan is said to have sought details on the commission’s report from the state govt. However, speaking in Koppal, Siddaramaiah on Sunday said he is yet to receive intimation from Gehlot on making the report public.
“I have not yet received any such request and am only aware of media reports on it. We will decide on the request after we receive the communication,” he said.
Siddaramaiah had set up the inquiry commission in 2013-14 after it was alleged that he had illegally denotified hundreds of acres. Justice Kempanna submitted his final report to Siddaramaiah in 2017, but it was never tabled in the assembly.
However, just before state elections in 2023, then CM Basavaraj Bommai read out portions of the report in the assembly to claim Siddaramaiah was corrupt. He said the report needed clarifications before it could be tabled in the House.
Bommai read: “The commission found that of the land acquired for Arkavathy Layout, 868 acres and 27 guntas were excluded from acquisition in violation of high court and Supreme Court orders and provisions of BDA and land acquisition Acts.” Reading from the report, he said more than 852 acres of this land was “excluded only with the view to favour owners/persons interested in the land”.