BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court upheld the acquisition of certain lands for expansion and security of the overcrowded central prison at Parappana Agrahara, including the provision of a buffer zone and staff quarters in the city.
“The establishment and expansion of prison infrastructure constitute an important responsibility of the state, extending beyond the mere provision of accommodation for inmates to encompass custodial security, effective prison administration, segregation of inmates, adequate supporting facilities and maintenance of a secure environment.
The requirement of additional land for these purposes must be assessed in the context of the overall functional requirements of the institution and its long-term operational needs, rather than being confined to existing structures within the prison premises,” the court observed.
The court, however, said the state and authorities shall take necessary steps to address the existence of RCC buildings, residential layouts, engineering workshops and developed sites on the subject notified lands, as referred to by the Special Land Acquisition Officer in the report dated March 25, 2013, in accordance with law.
A division bench of Justice DK Singh and Justice H Shanthi Bhushan passed the order on Wednesday (October 28) while allowing appeals filed by the state government challenging the order dated May 2, 2025, passed by a single judge in favour of landowners in a batch of writ petitions filed by them.
“The absence of a separate formal order or an express recital of reasons in the final declaration does not, by itself, establish that the State Government failed to apply its mind to the matter.
We are, therefore, of the considered view that acquisition of the notified lands for the expansion of the existing Central Prison serves a bona fide public purpose and cannot be set aside merely on account of hyper-technicalities in the procedure, in the absence of any established violation of a mandatory statutory requirement,” the court observed.
It was also stated by court that the law does not require the State to abandon a necessary public project merely because its implementation entails the deprivation of private property, provided such deprivation is authorised by law and the safeguards available to landowners are respected.
The petitioners owned 19 acres 18 guntas of land bearing different survey numbers, situated in Naganathapura village in Begur hobli of Bengaluru South taluk.
The state government issued a final notification in 2013, which was challenged before a single judge in the same year, and quashed by a single judge through the order in question. Therefore, the state government filed the appeals.
