Premji clears position on land encroachment charge

Reacting to media reports of a Karnataka High Court notice to him for allegedly encroaching government land, Azim Premji, chairman of Bangalore-based Wipro, today said he had returned the said portion in 2007. It was a small part of a 10-acre property he had bought almost 15 years earlier from private sellers in Kempepura village close to the city.

Added his real estate manager, V R Ganesh: “As and when we get the notice, we will clarify our stance and the steps taken by us.”

One Santosh Min had filed a public interest suit in the HC, alleging encroachment of land and asking what action had been taken by the state government. Min said a legislature committee had confirmed encroachment of the land by Premji on August 21, 2009.

“Failing to get a reply from the government, I filed (the suit) in my individual capacity. In its recent hearing, a division bench of the HC has made Premji as the court’s respondent and issued a notice to him,” Min told Business Standard.

In reply to an email query from this newspaper, Premji stated: “About two years back, the Government of Karnataka notified that the property included a small portion of government land. This happened inadvertently, since the compound wall built in a straight line did not match the land having an asymmetrical shape. The compound wall was repositioned immediately on being pointed out by the inspecting authorities. No further notice was received from the government.”

Ganesh said the land was acquired when Premji was staying in Mumbai. In 2007, when the government said the land included 23 guntas (less than an acre) of government land, “we did not even contest it and shifted the boundary”.