Karnataka HC seeks State response to PIL alleging illegal grant of land to Congress Bhavan Trust

The Karnataka High Court recently sought the State's response to a public interest litigation (PIL) petition alleging that two acres of land in Tumakuru district were illegally allotted to the Congress Bhavan Trust [Gopalakrishnan NN v State of Karnataka & Ors]..A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bhakhru and Justice CM Poonacha has issued notice in the matter to the State, its Urban Development Department, the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner in Tumakuru, the Directorate of Municipal Administration, as well as the Congress Bhavan Trust (CBT)..The petition has been filed by a real estate businessman from Tumakuru, Gopalakrishnan NN, who has alleged that the two-acre land was given to the CBT at a throwaway price of ₹17 lakhs, against its market price of around ₹23 crores. The alleged irregularities flagged by the petitioner in this transaction include that the CBT was not even in existence when an application was made for the grant of the land.According to the petitioner, the matter is tied to the Rajiv Gandhi Urban and Rural Development Trust (RGURT), which was set up in 2023 by Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara and some other Congress party workers.An application was made within a month of the trust being set up for the grant of one acre of the land in Tumakuru. The petitioner claims that in the land allottment request, the trust falsely claimed that it had been working for 10 years in social service activities. Upon receiving this request, the Deputy Commissioner of Tumakuru is said to have written to the Commissioner to examine whether two acres of land can be allotted to the trust, instead of the one acre originally sought for. The Commissioner relied on a government circular to state that the available land can be sold to the trust at current market rates, but also pointed out that the land sought is caught up in two court cases. The petitioner has contended that the only way for a private party to acquire such land is by way of public auction or at market rates. .However, after a series of communications and representations between September 2023 and May 2025, Chief Minister Siddaramiah took a decision to allot the two-acre land at 5 per cent of the guidance price rate. The decision was conveyed in a Cabinet note dated May 22, 2025, the plea says. Notably, the petitioner claims that this allotment was made in favour of an unknown entity named "Congress Bhavan Trust" (CBT) and not RGURT which made the application. The petition says that even going by documents registering the property in CBT's favour, this trust came into existence on August 6, 2025 - over two months after the land was allotted in its favour by the Chief Minister. "Therefore, as on the date of the grant, land was granted to a non-existent trust ... the above grant of the scheduled property is riddled with several violations of law, irregularities, and smacks of land grab, favouritism and scant respect for law... A land reserved for public utility from 1942 (when it was acquired for waste management) has been given for a song, causing immense loss of nearly 22.60 crores and that too for private purpose," the plea says. .The matter is listed for hearing on August 13, 2026.