Palike to reclaim Clarence School playground
The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike will take legal measures to reclaim the Clarence School playground.
Commissioner M K Shankaralinge Gowda, while replying to a discussion on the issue in the Council meeting on Tuesday, said the lease of the ground could be terminated as the school had violated some conditions. He quoted a Supreme Court verdict which laid down that lease for indefinite period should not mean lease for more than 33 years. He said perpetual lease at 50 paise per annum does not imply there need not be any revision in the lease amount.
C V Raman Nagar legislator S Raghu who raised the issue said the land belongs to Palike and it needs to be thrown open for public use since there were no other playground nearby.
“There is no use of allowing indefinite lease of three acres of land at 50 paise per annum. The property is worth Rs 150 crore. The school has violated the lease condition by constructing buildings over the playground,” he said. The playground is located about five kilometre from the school, he claimed.
A case has been registered against Raghu following a trespass complaint by the principal of the school. He was accused of abetting Palike officials to demolish the school compound for road widening.
But the Congress corporators were not satisfied. While they opined that there was no need for taking up a case against the legislator, they felt that the MLA should not have taken law into his own hands.
“It is a matter of concern that a police case was registered against a public representative because of the callousness of the BBMP officers, The MLA was at fault,” he said .
JD(S) leader Padmanabha Reddy rallied behind the MLA saying that the action against him was unwarranted and tantamount to humiliation of elected representatives.
He said the land needs to be retained as a playground since there was no alternative in a radius of three km.
