Special court on land grab cases gets no help from Bengaluru dist officials

 The Bengaluru urban district administration, which is dealing with more than 6,000 cases of land encroachment, could move only eight cases to the anti-land grabbing special court in the last seven months though the district headquarters is barely a few metres away from the court.

Perturbed by the indifferent attitude of the district administration, the special court has now decided to act on V Balasubramanian’s report ‘Greed and Connivance’.

It has set itself a target of disposing of at least 4,000 cases and to initiate action against land sharks.

The Balasubramanian committee had found encroachment of 12 lakh acres of
government land across the state.

Ten days ago, the court had directed district authorities across the state to send the list of land grabbers with documents. Bengaluru Urban district authorities are among those who have not responded, despite being located close to the court. The range forest officers of six districts have so far sent the list and relevant papers.

The court has warned the officials that mere names, addresses and the extent of encroachment of government land will not suffice. Supporting documents should be submitted immediately failing which they will face action, the court warned.

The special court was set up on August 31, 2016 following public outcry against rampant encroachment of government land.

There are around 3,000 cases pertaining to ownership of land pending with the office of the special deputy commissioner and an equal number are awaiting disposal in the courts of deputy commissioner and assistant commissioners.

Yet, these officers have not transferred these cases to the special court. The special court to try land grabbing cases is on the third floor of Kandaya Bhavan or the office of the deputy commissioner of Bengaluru Urban district. The second floor has the offices of assistant commissioners of north sub-division and south sub-division, dealing with five taluks of the district. Yet, none of the cases was referred to the special court.

BBMP non-cooperative

The BBMP too is non-cooperative. Though its lakes, stormwater drains, roads, parks and playgrounds have been encroached upon, the Palike has remained idle. The court had even sent notices to the Palike but it has not responded.

Statistics

Number of land grabbing cases registered in special court: 348
Suo motu cases taken up by special court: 243
Number of cases registered on private complaints: 92
Number of cases transferred by various departments: 8
Cases disposed: 13