BDA does a flip flop on land acquisition

Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda is scheduled to inaugurate on Monday a BDA project on the improvement of the St John’s Hospital-Koramangala 100 Feet Road junction, which may involve a piece of land that the agency had told the High Court it did not need.

The BDA issued a land acquisition notice to the Indian Institute of Astrophysics for improvement of the St John’s Hospital-Koramangala 100 Feet Road junction, days after submitting before the High Court that the project did not require any land. The Citizen Action Forum had filed a writ petition in the High Court challenging the project to construct a signal-free corridor from Sirsi Circle to Agara Junction. The BDA, in its statement of objections filed in March 2012, had stated that the project does not entail land requisition.

“The priority was given to these four junctions for the reason that there is an immediate necessity to decongest traffic in these junctions coupled with the fact that there is no land acquisition for the implementation of the project in respect of these four junctions,” the paragraph 11 of the objection statement says. 

The next para of the objection statement enlists the four projects referred to in paragraph 11 and enlists “construction of underpass along Sarjapura Road and flyover along Koramangala 100 feet road at junction of St John’s Hospital Road (Sarjapura Road) and Koramangala 100 Feet Road.” 

The matter is being heard by a Bench comprising Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice B V Nagarathna.

However, days later, the BDA issued a notice to the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (notice No. BDA/EE(ID-1)/T-459/2-11-12, dated March 31, 2012), stating that it had proposed to construct an underpass along Sarjapura Road and flyover along Koramangala 100 Feet Road. 

“Land belongs to Indian Institute of Astro Physics to an extent of 384.300 sq meter is required for the construction of the above Grade Separator. It is requested to part an extent of 384.300 sqm of land with BDA for the proposed Grade Separator work,” the notice reads, signed by the Executive Engineer, Infrastructure Division-I, BDA.