BENGALURU: A bench of Karnataka Real Estate Regulatory Authority (K-RERA) recently ordered the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) to pay a senior citizen Rs 12,43,792 for the delay in handing over a site. It also ordered the Authority to register the Arkavathy Layout under K-RERA as it had not done it, despite being told to do so in November 2023.
The compensation order was passed on February 13 by Chairman Rakesh Singh and Member G Ravindranadha Reddy.
Suthanthiraraj, a retired chartered accountant who resides at Vidyaranyapura, had filed a case against the BDA commissioner under Section 31 of RERA Act.
Suthanthiraj had purchased a 60x40 site in 18th Block of Amani Byrathikane in Bengaluru East by paying Rs 7,5,100 in 2006. The sale deed for the site, numbered 358, was registered on January 2, 2017. He told TNIE, “My repeated efforts to visit my site were in vain as the land loser would not permit me to step into the property, stating the compensation was not paid. The issue was finally settled in March 2024 and the site can be visited freely now.”
The lack of amenities is affecting site buyers, he added. “While all the 22 blocks of Arkavathy Layout suffer, the 18th Block is the most neglected. We do not have water or power supply here. We do not have access roads with the existing ones too not asphalted.”
An interim order by K-RERA on November 2, 2023 had given directions to register the project under Section 3 of the RERA Act 2023 within two weeks. However, BDA was yet to register it, the order pointed out. The commissioner failed to appear before the RERA court during nine hearings despite being told multiple times.
The Layout was planned in 2003-04 with 8,813 sites carved on land acquired in 16 villages in Bengaluru East and Yelahanka.