The Karnataka Cabinet on Thursday accepted a report by the Justice PN Desai Commission that cleared Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his family in an alleged land scam involving the Mysuru Urban Development Authority, PTI reported.

“The report makes it clear that there is no truth in allegations made against the chief minister and his family,” the news agency quoted state Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister HK Patil as saying after a Cabinet meeting. “It has also asked for action against certain officials on various accounts.”

Patil added that the Cabinet had accepted the report and its recommendations.

The alleged scam pertains to the allotment of 14 high-value housing sites in Mysuru’s Vijaynagar area to Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathi BM in 2021 by the Mysore Urban Development Authority under a state government scheme.

This was allegedly done in exchange for 3.1 acres of land that Parvathi owned in another part of the city. The land was alleged to be illegally acquired from Dalit families.

The state government formed the one-man commission headed by Desai, a retired Karnataka High Court judge, in July 2024 to look into the allegations. The report was submitted to Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh on July 31, PTI reported.

The commission cleared Siddaramaiah and his family in connection with the alleged irregularities. It said that the allotment of alternative sites as compensation to landowners, including to Parvathi, cannot be termed illegal, The Hindu reported.

The report stated while the land was de-notified and utilised by the land authority, compensation in the form of alternative sites was one of the methods that it had historically employed in the absence of clear rules or guidelines.

Desai also noted that “the methods followed by the authority for compensating in the form of sites in case of utilisation of de-notified lands cannot be said unlawful since MUDA does not have any title and legal possession over the de-notified land”.

However, the report criticised the functioning of the Mysore Urban Development Authority, particularly between 2020 and 2024, noting systemic problems and arbitrary decision-making by officials.

It found that 72 acres and 34 guntas had been utilised by the Mysore Urban Development Authority without proper acquisition processes, and several allotments were made without verifying the physical existence of the sites, The Hindu reported.

The commission recommended legal action against several officials of the land authority and called for the cancellation of all illegal allotments.

Despite earlier allegations that Parvathi had no legal title over the land in Kesare, the commission found no wrongdoing. The Lokayukta Police had also cleared the chief minister and his family in the matter in February.

On September 25, 2024, a special court in Bengaluru ordered a Lokayukta Police investigation against Siddaramaiah after the Karnataka High Court upheld the sanction granted by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot to prosecute him.

On September 27, 2024, the Lokayukta Police registered a first information report against Siddaramaiah, Parvathi, her brother Mallikarjuna Swamy and a person named Devaraju.

Swamy had reportedly purchased the land in question from Devaraju and gifted it to Parvathi.

On October 1, 2024, Parvathi offered to return the 14 plots in question. This came after the Enforcement Directorate booked Siddaramaiah under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in connection with the alleged scam.

In February, the Lokayukta Police said in its closure report that it found no evidence against Siddaramaiah.

However, the authority alleged that the 50:50 site allotment policy followed by former Mysuru Urban Development Authority Commissioner DB Natesh and his predecessors led to substantial losses to the state exchequer.