3 months ago
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The High Court of Karnataka has directed the State Chief Secretary to acceptable up a committee wrong 3 weeks to oversee and guarantee that the applicable statutory authorities initiate indispensable enactment arsenic per instrumentality to place and wide constructions encroaching upon the buffer portion of Sarakki water successful J.P. Nagar, and instrumentality indispensable steps to sphere and support the waterbody.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C.M. Poonacha issued the directions connected February 20 portion disposing of a PIL petition filed successful 2023 by the Sarakki Lake Area Improvement Trust, Bengaluru.
The petitioner had sought a absorption to reconstruct the water area, including its buffer zone, the rajakaluve, the main roadworthy connected apical of the bund to their archetypal presumption arsenic per gross records and Revised Master Plan (RMP) by clearing each amerciable constructions.
The authorities had taken steps for restoring the water and a ample portion of the water bound was fenced arsenic per the directions issued by the tribunal successful 2014, based connected the earlier petition filed successful 2013 by the petitioner. But the task remained incomplete for assorted reasons.
The Bench said that the committee should comprise a typical of the Greater Bengaluru Authority, the Deputy Commissioner (Bengaluru Urban district), a typical of the Tank Development Authority and different stakeholders.
The committee, done its nodal officer, should nonstop a study to the tribunal wrong 3 months, giving details of the enactment taken for clearances of the unauthorised constructions arsenic good arsenic different actions/measures taken by to instrumentality the directions issued based connected some the petitions, the Bench said.
Rights reserved
Meanwhile, the Bench made it wide that the rights and contentions of each persons, who person enactment up constructions allegedly encroaching upon the buffer zone, are reserved and each those persons should beryllium notified arsenic per the instrumentality for the intent of clearing the encroachments, arsenic they person close to remedy disposable nether the instrumentality against their eviction.
It was specifically alleged successful the petition that Mahaveer Developers had enactment up an flat analyzable successful a information of the buffer portion by producing a survey map. On the court’s directions, G. Jagadeesh, DC, Bengaluru Urban, and Ramesh K.N., Commissioner, Bengaluru South City Corporation, had filed affidavit confirming that the developer had occupied 1,679.38 sq. metre of the designated buffer zone.
Plan sanctioned
Though the developer had pointed retired that the gathering was constructed arsenic per the program sanctioned by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike successful 2019, the Commissioner had told the tribunal that the sanctioned program contained a information that buffer portion of 30 metre from the bound of the water should beryllium maintained.
However, the Bench noted that the developer was not enactment to the survey, which recorded the uncovering that the developer was occupying 1679.389 sq. metre of the buffer portion of the lake.
The Bench observed that adjacent if the gathering was constructed arsenic per the sanctioned plan, the operation could not beryllium termed arsenic ineligible erstwhile it had violated the 30-metre buffer portion demarcation nether the provisions of the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act.
