BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court directed Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh to constitute a committee comprising a representative of the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner (DC) and a representative of the Tank Development Authority and such other stakeholders as required, to determine the rights of parties concerning alleged encroachment of the buffer zone near Sarakki Lake and take measures to clear if encroachments are found and protect the lake.
A division bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice CM Poonacha pronounced the order on Friday, disposing of the public interest litigation filed by the Sarakki Lake Area Improvement Trust in 2023, seeking directions to stop alleged illegal constructions by Mahavir Developers on a site situated at Jagruthi Colony in Puttenahalli.
The court stated that a nodal officer should also be appointed from among the members of the committee and a government order for constituting the committee should be issued within three weeks. The committee should oversee and ensure the relevant statutory authorities initiate necessary action as per the relevant statute so as to notify the person/s and/or entities, who have put up construction/s in the buffer zone, to take further action in accordance with the law for the purposes of clearing/removing the said encroachments, as also other measures to preserve and protect the lake, the court added.
The court said the panel should submit a report to the court within three months as to the action taken for clearance of unauthorised constructions, as well as other actions or measures taken by it. The court stated that the order passed by a Bench of this court in 2014, which required the encroachments in the buffer zone of the lake to be cleared, the lake area to be fenced, and the buffer zone of the lake area to be fenced, has not been complied with. Although specific directions were issued, it is clear from the affidavits filed by GBA and the DC that Mahavir Developers have been constructing in a portion of the buffer zone.
Mahavir Developers contended that it has been granted a sanctioned plan and has also been issued a commencement certificate. The court stated that it had not placed on record any occupancy certificate granted by the then BBMP. Hence, it is clear that any construction put up by it within the buffer zone of 30 metres from the actual lake boundaries, even if it is in accordance with the sanctioned plan, is illegal and unauthorised. In the sanctioned plan, there is a specific stipulation that “the building constructed should not be occupied without obtaining an occupancy certificate from the competent authority,” the court said.
Mahavir Developers disputes claim
In the affidavit, the DC and BBMP stated Mahavir Developers have encroached upon the buffer zone of the lake, but Mahavir Developers disputed the affidavit as well as the sketch produced, on the grounds that the building constructed by it is beyond the buffer zone of 30 metres from the lake boundary. The map indicates that an extent of 1679.389 square metres of the buffer zone has been occupied. However, it was not party to the survey which recorded the encroachment, Mahavir Developers claimed.