BENGALURU: The High Court has directed the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) to strictly adhere to the 11 guidelines and circular placed before the court, along with the affidavit filed by the commissioner, in all cases filed by the BDA.
Any deviation from the circular and guidelines should be viewed seriously, and appropriate action should be taken against the officer(s) instrumental to such violation, the High Court cautioned.
A division bench of Justice DK Singh and Justice TM Nadaf passed the order to set right the anomalies and systemic failure in conducting the court cases, while allowing appeals filed by the BDA against the orders dated March 7, 2024 and August 18, 2023, passed in two separate writ petitions.
Through the order concerned, a notification for acquiring two different pieces of land near Gubbalala in Bengaluru South Taluk for the formation of a road from Kanakapura to Banashankari and further extension of Banashankari 6th Stage Layout was quashed.
While allowing the appeals filed by the BDA, the division bench said the scheme for Banashankari VI Stage having been substantially implemented and having been upheld in several cases, the contention of senior counsel appearing for the land owners that the BDA cannot form island layouts on small pockets of land, such as the lands involved in these cases, has no ground.
In an office order placed before the court, the BDA stated that in cases where adverse orders have been issued against the BDA in the courts, instead of wasting time and money by filing appeals in such cases, it is appropriate to examine the cases first.
According to the 11 guidelines issued by the BDA to ensure effective conduct of litigation, it was stated that notices, petitions, applications, summons, court orders, judgments, contempt notices and all other legal communications received by any counsel or officer or a department shall be forwarded to the chief law officer on the same day or in any event, not later than the next day.
All the advocates shall upload the notices received from the court to the legal WhatsApp group of the BDA on the very same day. The chief law officer shall forward it to the zonal commissioner concerned immediately or not exceeding 48 hours for necessary action.
It was also stated that no case shall be withdrawn, settled or compromised without approval of the commissioner. Wherever necessary, the proposal shall first be examined by the litigation screening committee.
All litigation records shall be digitised and maintained through the e-office system. Electronic communication, digital case management, legal database and other technology-based tools, including artificial intelligence applications, wherever permissible, shall be utilised for efficient litigation management, the court said.
