BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court directed the Urban Development Department (UDD) to issue a circular restraining the officers from granting permission to put up new construction in and around the protected monuments.
If any permission is to be granted in tune with the stature, such permission should precede a ‘no-objection’ from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the court added. The court further said that if the officers give permission against the law, they could face departmental enquiry.
Justice M Nagaprasanna dismissed Denis Crasta’s plea seeking a no objection certificate to build a house near Mangala Devi temple, a protected monument, within 64 metres and in the prohibited area, as per the regional director (Karnataka), National Monument Authority’s order. The court noted that it is the obligation of the state to protect every monument of historic interest.
If this is the mandate of the constitution, it is ununderstandable how the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) has granted permission to put up a new construction, that too without keeping ASI in the loop.