The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Court directs JD (S) to hand over building to Congress

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Oct 30, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Court directs JD (S) to hand over building to Congress

Special Correspondent

We will move the High Court against the order: Deve Gowda

Bangalore: A city civil court has decreed the ownership of the building on Racecourse Road housing the headquarters of the Janata Dal (Secular) in favour of the Congress. Presiding officer of the court Balakrishna passed the order on Friday.

The legal battle between the coalition partners of the Dharam Singh-led Government has its roots in the 1969 split of the Congress when the Congress (O) headed by S. Nijalingappa occupied the building. Interestingly, the granite structure on a sprawling piece of land in the central part of Bangalore was donated to the Bangalore District Congress by a staunch Congressman C. Rangaswamy in the late 1940s.

The former Prime Minister and President of the Janata Dal (Secular) H.D. Deve Gowda told The Hindu that the Janata Dal (S) would file an appeal in the High Court shortly. The State unit President of the Janata Dal (S) N. Thippanna, who himself is a former senior public prosecutor, would take charge of the matter and finalise the party's appeal before the next higher court. Interestingly, a former Congress Government had approved the building extension plan of the Janata Dal headquarters while yet another court had decreed the vacant land in the rear part of the premises in favour of the Janata Dal. The petitioner in this case was the late M.D. Nataraj, son-in- law of the former Chief Minister D. Devaraj Urs.

Long battle

The Indian National Congress and the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee filed the original suit in the civil court in 1982 after the negotiations for arriving at a settlement between the two political parties failed. In its suit, the Congress prayed for a decree against the Janata Party and urged the court to provide it the vacant possession of the property. The Congress High Command also chipped in with some crucial documents pertaining to the ownership of the building.

Apart from the Congress, there have also been several other "minor claimants" for the land and the building which at today's market rates has been estimated at over Rs. 30 crores. Every time there has been a split in the Janata Parivar, the number of claimants for the building has only increased. The latest has been that of the faction led by the former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah which has no office for the present and has partly been functioning from the residential quarters of a former Minister.

The All-India Progressive Janata Dal (AIPJD), which is now called the Janata Dal (United), had also sought to challenge the ownership of the building when the late Jeevaraj Alva was the State President of the AIPJD.

Evidence

The city civil court had recorded the evidence of several senior Congress leaders, including the former Union Minister C.K. Jaffer Sharief, the former Minister Harnahalli Ramaswamy, the former AICC General Secretary M. Sathyanarayana Rao and Chairman of the Central Silk Board H. Hanumanthappa.

KPCC Secretary and advocate N.K. Venkateshwar monitored the legal proceedings for the KPCC. After the legal victory, he told The Hindu "it is now for the Janata Dal (S) to honour the court verdict and hand over the possession of the property to the Congress."

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka

News Update

Stories in this Section