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The High Court of Karnataka has held that civic authorities cannot compel backstage landowners to surrender a information of their onshore escaped of outgo for widening an existing road, solely connected the ground of a connection successful the maestro program for roadworthy widening nether the Karnataka Town and Country Planning (KTCP) Act, 1961, by imposing specified a information for approving a gathering plan.
If civic authorities necessitate the onshore for roadworthy widening successful nationalist interest, the tribunal said they indispensable “resort to legally recognised statutory mechanisms, including acquisition proceedings nether Section 69 of the KTCP Act work with the applicable onshore acquisition law, on with outgo of owed compensation, oregon assistance of Transferable Development Rights wherever permissible nether the applicable readying regulations. Free relinquishment without immoderate signifier of information is not a legally disposable option.”
Demand of GBA
Justice Suraj Govindaraj passed the bid portion quashing the request made by the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) asking a landowner to surrender a information of his onshore escaped of outgo for widening the Kanakapura Main Road from 31 metres to 45 metres nether the Revised Master Plan, 2015, arsenic a precondition for releasing an already-approved gathering plan.
Petitioner Shashikumar M. had questioned the civic authority’s insistence connected executing a registered relinquishment deed for 380.71 quadrate metres of his spot successful Thalagattapura colony without outgo of immoderate compensation, contending that specified a request was “without authorization of law” and violative of Article 300A of the Constitution of India.
The petitioner, who owns astir 2 acres and 4.5 guntas of residentially converted land, had sought modification of an earlier sanctioned program to licence the operation of a residential analyzable comprising 148 units. After complying with each statutory requirements, paying fees exceeding ₹1.33 crore, and obtaining the indispensable approvals, the modified program was approved by the authorities connected September 26, 2024. However, the civic authorization withheld the merchandise of the approved plan, demanding that the petitioner archetypal surrender the onshore required for widening the Kanakapura Main Road.
No statutory obligation
Upholding the petitioner’s contentions, the tribunal held that the statutory work to surrender onshore without compensation applies lone to roads, parks, and civic amenity sites forming portion of a backstage layout formed by a developer with the support of the authorities. However, onshore earmarked for widening existing nationalist roads nether a maestro program stands connected an wholly antithetic footing. It indispensable beryllium secured done acquisition proceedings nether Section 69 of the Act, accompanied by outgo of compensation oregon assistance of Transferable Development Rights (TDR) arsenic per the law, the tribunal clarified.
Terming the precondition imposed by the authorization arsenic “colourable workout of power”, the tribunal said that “a specified designation of onshore successful a maestro program neither divests the proprietor of rubric nor creates a coercive powerfulness enabling compulsory surrender of property”.
The tribunal besides made it wide that “what cannot beryllium done straight done lawful acquisition cannot beryllium indirectly achieved done the workout of regulatory leverage” by imposing a precondition for either approving a program oregon releasing an already approved plan.
Incidental benefits
Meanwhile, the tribunal rejected the civic authority’s statement that the roadworthy widening would payment the petitioner’s improvement by improving entree and enhancing spot value. It held that incidental benefits from nationalist infrastructure projects cannot extinguish law extortion implicit backstage property, and that specified enhancement successful worth whitethorn lone beryllium a origin considered portion determining compensation.
