BENGALURU: Thousands of landowners collectively submitted more than 1,000 objections to the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and demanded that BDA submit details of these objections to the High Court.
The objections challenge both the legality of the 74-km project and the compensation framework proposed by the government. Mavallipura Srinivas, President of the PRR Raitha Haagu Niveshanadarara Sangha (Farmers and Site owners association), said, “The court has given us a date (December 2) for hearing regarding the objections we have filed and also directed the officials to not conduct any survey related to project.”
Farmers from villages across the alignment arrived at the BDA office with individual and consolidated objections, accusing the agency of initiating what they described as an “illegal land grab.”
Their objections focus on three central claims--that the PRR scheme has legally lapsed, that the wrong acquisition law is being applied, and that the state’s recently announced “five-option” compensation package is unlawful and discriminatory.
According to the farmers, the PRR scheme approved in 2007 automatically lapsed under Section 27 of the BDA Act, 1976, because the BDA failed to pass land acquisition awards within the required five-year period. Any attempt to continue acquisition under a lapsed scheme, they argue, is unconstitutional and violates established legal precedent.