BENGALURU: Criticising the manner in which a survey was carried out by BBMP to identify illegal religious structures in the city, the Karnataka High Court granted three weeks’ time to the civic body to submit accurate data on such structures. Giving a final chance, a division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum questioned BBMP Commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad on how a survey can be carried out without visiting each religious structure, on public and private properties.
This came after Prasad, who appeared before court via video conference, submitted that BBMP had identified 1,588 illegal religious structures in the city, of which 1,337 were built prior to September 29, 2009, the date on which the Supreme Court ordered action against such structures.
On the last date of hearing, BBMP had filed an affidavit before court stating that 17 religious structures were built illegally after September 29, 2009. The court had observed that even a child will not believe the affidavit, and termed it a “bold and tall claim”. The court also directed the commissioner to be present personally on Friday.
When court questioned the difference between the BBMP’s earlier claim of 17 religious structures, and fresh claim of 251 such structures built after 2009, Prasad submitted that this time, the survey had been done in detail, involving revenue staff who had found a total of 1,588 illegal religious structures on government land.
The court then asked him whether the survey was conducted on private lands too. “Whether public land or private land, you (BBMP) must visit each and every religious structure to identify illegal ones, which is a very crucial part of the survey,” the court observed. Prasad sought further time to conduct a proper survey.