Bengaluru: BJP MLA M Krishnappa who is accused of illegal denotification of land has been asked to continue in his post. This comes in the wake of recent Lokayukta report which said that Bangalore South MLA M. Krishnappa should not hold public office. However on Wednesday Governor Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala rejected the Lokayukta report saying that the misuse of office was committed during the legislator’s previous term as MLA.

The Governor, in his letter to the Lokayukta dated November 6, has said that the misuse of office was committed during the legislator’s previous term as MLA and that could not be used to disqualify him now. The Lokayukta has now written to Mr. Krishnappa informing him that the case is closed, according to reports in the media.

Freelance journalist Nagalakshmi Bai had lodged a complaint against Mr. Krishnappa that he had got 36 guntas of land denotified in 2007 by misusing his position and had subsequently launched a joint venture with his son-in-law’s firm to build an apartment complex on the said land in Uttarahalli.

Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) had notified the land in 1997 to form a layout. The land was denotified in 2007 citing that it was in the Uttarahalli tankbed area and no structure could be built there.

But, Krishnappa bought the land and after it was denotified he built a residential complex. Based on the report, Lokayukta Y. Bhaskar Rao wrote in August and in October again to the Governor asking him to take action against the MLA.

However, trouble doesn’t seem to have ended for the legislator. Lokayukta has sent a report to the government under section 12 (3) of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act. And, the government has three months’ time to act on the report, sources said.