Muda 50 50 Scheme Karnataka Cancels 1100 Sites

The Karnataka Government Wednesday ordered the cancellation of the allotment of 1,100 housing sites worth Rs 2,000 crore granted under a 50:50 land compensation scheme in Mysuru by the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA), despite a March 14, 2023, order barring such allotments.

The Urban Development Department order also said the government will consider moving civil courts to cancel sale deeds for replacement sites already registered, while directing authorities to halt issuing sale deeds and khatas for such properties.

“All 50:50 alternate site allocation orders made in violation of the government directive dated March 14, 2023, should be cancelled immediately,” Urban Development Minister Yathindra Siddaramaiah said.

“The government has issued important instructions to the chairman/district magistrate, commissioner, and local bodies of the Mysore Urban Development Authority regarding the cases where the allocations have been made in violation of the directions of the government letter dated March 14, 2023,” the minister said.

The government order says “action will also be taken to file a civil case in the civil court to cancel the “sale deeds” of the replacement sites already registered with the sub-registrar’s office in violation of the above directive.”

“If a sale deed has not been issued so far, the authority should not issue a sale deed in such cases until guidelines are formulated and appropriate directions are given by the government,” the order said.

“In the first phase, the allocations made in violation of the rules after March 14, 2023, have been cancelled. In the second phase, action is being taken to review the violations of the rules in cases where allocations were made before March 14, 2023, and if any irregularities are found, action will be taken against them as well,” the urban development minister said.

Last year, a judicial commission headed by retired Karnataka High Court judge Justice P N Desai, constituted in July 2024 to probe allegations of corruption and maladministration in MUDA, found large-scale irregularities in the Authority’s functioning between 2020 and 2024.

The Commission found that the alternate-site scheme had significant loopholes and that a surge in claims between 2020 and 2024 appeared to have enabled beneficiaries to seek high-value sites with the alleged help of MUDA officials.

“It is common experience that it will be very difficult for a common man to get even a single site allotted through such public authorities. But there are cases wherein sites numbering 30 to 40 were allotted illegally to a single person who has no right to compensation,” the Commission said.

The Commission was constituted amid allegations involving former CM Siddaramaiah’s family over 14 sites allotted as compensation for 3.16 acres of land acquired by MUDA. It found no wrongdoing in that allotment.

An alternate site scheme was drafted on November 20, 2020, by MUDA members, including the chairman and commissioner, for distributing sites to those who lost their land on a 50:50 ratio basis — 50 per cent of housing sites in a developed area in exchange for 50 per cent of the revenue land acquired by the Authority.

The Karnataka Urban Development Department warned MUDA against implementing the scheme on May 4, 2021 and March 14, 2023, but it did not stop the scheme.

According to the department, as many as 1,328 alternate sites were given as compensation under the 50:50 scheme since it came into existence in 2020.

It has been alleged that people who did not lose land were also given high-value alternate sites under the scheme after realtors and politicians began abusing it.