BENGALURU: The Supreme Court ordered Bangalore Development Authority to complete the tendering process for formation of the Dr Shivaram Karanth Layout by the end of September. A total of 25,000 sites are planned on 2,250 acres of land acquired so far. The direction was given by Justice S Abdul Nazeer and Justice Sanjiv Khanna on Thursday, while hearing the ongoing case between BDA and the State of Karnataka and Others. BDA has also been asked to present its status report to the court on or before October 10.
The bench also agreed to grant BDA the four weeks it sought to complete the process of taking over possession of 45 acres and 17.25 guntas required for connectivity within the layout, according to the order. A senior BDA official said BDA required this land to provide roads across Karanth Layout.
Asked if BDA would be able to meet the deadline, a senior official said that tenders of Rs 2,475 crore to create the layout have already been called for. “The technical round is on. A meeting has been called on September 27 in connection with financial bids, and it could be finalised within the next two days. Generally, it would be placed before the BDA Board for its consent,” he added.
However, due to the SC deadline, the chairman’s consent would be taken to approve the final bidders, the official said. Asked if BDA would go ahead with the allotment of sites before the formation, the official said since the layout was being formed after the RERA came into effect, allotment could not go ahead without its consent. “We are looking at readying the layout and then approaching RERA. So, we are looking at calling for tenders by the new year,” he added.
The SC also asked BDA to file an affidavit, explaining what happened to the previous sites held by allottees whose names figure in the 22nd report of the court-appointed Justice A V Chandrashekar Committee. They were all allotted alternative sites.