Stating that there has been favouritism in the allotment of sites by Kalaburagi Urban Development Authority (KUDA), the former Minister S.K. Kanta has said that officials have violated norms and floated tender in a tearing hurry with an intention to granting favours to certain politically connected persons.
Mr. Kanta, addressing presspersons here on Sunday, said that tender to auction 15 sites was open from December 1, 2020 to December 14, 2020. Three bidders, including Shweta Ramesh Patil, Shantaling M. Alipur and Alok Patil, participated in the auction to purchase a site measuring 15,168 square feet and the site was granted to Shweta Ramesh Patil.
The KUDA had fixed ₹8,49,40,800 as price for the site and it was allotted at a price of ₹8,50,90,800.
The former Minister said that the site allotment was politically influenced. Ms. Patil is the spouse of Dr. Alok Patil, who is the brother of MLA and KUDA member Dattatreya Patil Revoor.
The then KUDA Commissioner and others were involved in corrupt practices, Mr. Kanta said and added that the officials of KUDA have made a mockery of the entire system of inviting bids even though the government has introduced e-tendering for bringing in transparency.
Mr. Kanta said that as per the Karnataka Urban Development Authorities Act, the KUDA has to collect 18% interest from the bidder if he fails to pay the balance amount within the stipulated period of 90 days.
Though Ms. Patil failed to pay the balance amount for the site within time, the KUDA failed to freeze 25% of the amount (₹2.35 crore) paid during auction. However, the balance amount was paid after almost an year on December 7, 2021, he said.
Therefore, Mr. Kanta has demanded a probe into the irregularities in the site allotment by KUDA officials.
