The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday rejected a petition to dismiss a 2017 criminal case against former state minister Chowda Reddy and former Chintamani municipal commissioner B H Narayanappa. Justice M Nagaprasanna directed the investigating agency to complete its probe within a strict six-month deadline, ruling that the allegations of public trust custodians usurping government land present serious, triable issues that must be fully investigated.
In the order, the court emphasized that halting the investigation at this stage would prematurely block the discovery of truth. The bench observed that land grabbing by politically influential individuals damages public confidence in governance, stating that investigations cannot be stopped early when custodians of public trust are the alleged beneficiaries of wrongdoing.
The High Court also questioned the omission of sitting Congress MLA and former higher education minister M C Sudhakar, along with his brother M C Balaji, from the list of accused. The bench raised concerns over how the brothers, whom the court identified as direct beneficiaries of the alleged land grab, remained outside the scope of the criminal case.
Origins Of The Land Dispute
The case centers on a 1.19-acre plot of government grazing and wasteland in Kannampalli Village, Chintamani Taluk, identified as Survey Number 11. Official records dating back to 1965–66 classified the property as government land, a status that revenue entries continue to show from September 2021 through 2026.
According to the court, the alleged encroachment began after Chowda Reddy was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1989. His sons initiated residential land conversion for neighboring agricultural plots. Subsequently, a family partition deed was executed, allocating seven residential plots carved out of the government-owned Survey Number 11 to both Balaji and Sudhakar.
Unraveling Of The Property Division
The court criticized the family for treating public property as ancestral land to be divided and sold. The plots were subsequently sold to third parties, establishing private ownership rights over state land.
The matter came to light in 2014 when a local councillor inquired with the Tahsildar regarding whether the land had ever been legally allocated to any government institution. Following verification that the land belonged to the state, the issue drew significant media and public attention.
Though Chowda Reddy initially offered to return any encroached land to the government, the court noted that restoration was unfeasible because the plots had already been sold to private buyers. When the Tahsildar later issued eviction notices following inspections by land records officials, Chowda Reddy and his family shifted their legal defense, claiming ownership through long-term uninterrupted occupancy, known as adverse possession.
Case History And Current Status
The criminal case stems from a 2016 complaint filed by R Venkataramana, a former Chintamani Municipal Corporation councillor. Based on the complaint, the now-defunct Anti-Corruption Bureau registered a First Information Report (FIR) in 2017. Chowda Reddy, 80, and Narayanappa had petitioned the High Court to quash this FIR, which the court has now rejected in favor of an expedited investigation.
