BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the state government on a public interest litigation filed by Umapathi S, a city-based advocate, alleging that the government has not complied with provisions of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike Act, 2020, about the constitution of the Metropolitan Planning Authority, Heritage Conservation Committee and Grievance Redressal Authority.
A division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice MGS Kamal also issued notice to the BBMP, after hearing the petition. The petitioner contended that the authorities and committees have to be constituted as per Sections 301, 367 and 368 of the BBMP Act for proper planning and management of the entire city.
As a result of the non-constitution of those committees, the citizens of Bengaluru are facing the issue of haphazard growth, traffic issues, water shortage, pollution, concretion, loss of heritage buildings, preservation and conservation of historical buildings and a host of other factors, he alleged. He submitted that the state government has not constituted even the Grievance Redressal Authority to address maladministration and civic issues.
BBMP reclaims 50,000 sqft in Bommanahalli Zone
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) reclaimed 50,000 sqft of land in Bommanahalli Zone, valued at Rs 50 crore. According to Palike officials, after the land at Survey No. 79/5A of Doddakalsandra Village in BBMP Ward 197 was transferred to the BBMP a decade ago, some people had built temporary structures, and later when the Palike wanted to fence the property, the occupants filed a case in the Civil Court. In April this year, the court, however, ruled the land in BBMP’s favour, following which bulldozers cleared the encroachments and began fencing the property.
Palike questioned over encroachment drive
The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday orally observed that there is a “chaotic situation” in the BBMP regarding the demolition drive launched for the removal of encroachment of Storm Water Drains (SWD) in Bengaluru. A division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale made this oral observation, after noting that as the monsoon is approaching, if effective steps are not taken to remove encroachments, the situation would become almost unmanageable for the BBMP, and it may also cause health hazards. Meanwhile, BBMP’s counsel submitted that the demolition drive is on and two weeks are required to submit a fresh status report, which was considered.
Chief Justice Varale orally observed that “We have seen in the newspaper reports that encroachers of SWDs are showing stay orders whenever your (BBMP) officers go there for demolition... Why are your officers not made aware by the corporation if the stay orders are granted before they go to the spot?”
“There is no proper coordination, though there are many wings, including the engineering wing, in the corporation. There is a chaotic situation in the corporation... Nobody knows what they are doing,” he orally observed.