There’s hope still. For citizens who are disgusted with rampant corruption and greed of the powers-that-be, minority welfare and wakfs minister Mumtaz Ali Khan comes across as a surprise.
Chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, his family members, housing minister Katta Subramanya Naidu and kin are embroiled in the row surrounding murky land dealings and denotifications. What differentiates Khan from the others is his integrity. He found it easier to forgo a prime BDA site worth around Rs 2 crore, rather than tell a lie.
When Khan met the CM during the legislature session in Belgaum in January 2009, the CM asked him if he had submitted an application for a BDA site. When Khan replied in the negative, the CM asked him to give an application, which he did.
Then BDA commissioner Siddaiah asked the minister to choose the area and the latter chose HRBR Layout. A 50x80 sqft site was allotted to Khan. As per the rules, to avail a BDA site, the applicant should not own a site or house in Bangalore. He has to give an affidavit to that effect. “I have a house at Ganganagar. My principles and conscience didn’t allow me to falsify. So, after I saw the clause, I refused the site. I intimated this to the BDA commissioner, who just laughed,’’ Khan told TOI.
When the issue came to CM’s notice, he asked Khan why he did so. “I told the CM that I cannot violate law and dharma. I told him the reasons for refusing the site,’’ Khan said.
For the full report in the ToI, click here
We have people like this also in the government - so refreshing to note.
Muralidhar Rao
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Indeed it is!
This is indeed a rare exception among our political class. May this tribe grow faster than before.
Shouldn't this itself be case for PIL against all the politicians who have grabbed DA site by filing a false affidavit? But who will bell the cat?
Dr. Mumtaz Ali Khan
I have known him personally as a regular participant in the Ashirvad Inter religious Harmony Movement. I had occasion to visit his residence at Ganganagar (after he became Minister) and was really surprised to see his Gandhian lifestyle.
K.V.Pathy
One more in league!
This is what the famous columnist Dilip D'souza had to say about his father, who was a former Chief Secretary of Maharashtra.
"...So in reading about Adarsh, what strikes me is the lesson my father taught well: being the son of a senior bureaucrat got me no favours. This was clear early, when he would not let his official car take us anywhere, unless he was in it travelling to or from work and we could be dropped off en route. There was the day when it poured as school ended. I found a phone and called him to ask if he could send the car to take me home. He said: "Walk". But I'll be drenched, I wailed. He said six more words: "You can dry off at home." It seemed cruel. But I was dry before he got home, and then I grew to appreciate and respect the example he set.
When he died, The Guardian carried an obituary for JB. It had this line: "In the gigantic heap of pestilential and growing venality which passes so often for the Government of India, he was one … who remained, despite all odds, dedicated to the idea of public service, a notion becoming almost quaint in modern India's world of swashbuckling capitalism, the fast buck and devil-take-the-hindmost".
http://www.hindustantimes.com/It-s-not-a-tall-order/H1-Article1-627193.aspx
I wish we could see more of such examples.
One more Noble Deed.....
Dear All,
Very few people know about the noble deeds of Dr.Mumtaz Ali Khan, being a distant relative of him i get to hear about his noble gestures.I have met him a few times and must mention that he leads such a simple life.
When all politicians are in the news for GRABBING LAND here we have our minister donating his own PRIVATE LAND .
www.hindu.com/2010/10/16/stories/2010101661380300.htm
I think he has already given away 2 acres of his 8 acres land.
Regards,
Imran.