SC protects lawful constructions in Dr Shivaram Karanth Layout of Bengaluru

The Supreme Court has decided to protect the buildings and dwelling houses which have come up on about 650 acres of land meant for 'Dr K Shivaram Karanth Layout', proposed initially in 2008 in Bengaluru.

The top court earlier on August 3, 2018 passed a judgement directing the Bangalore Development Authority not to drop the land acquisition from the proposed layout, posing serious repercussions to those who built the houses over there.

In an order of December 3, a bench of Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Sanjiv Khanna said the buildings constructed in the layout with valid sanction or permission from the competent authority needs to be saved from demolition.

"We are of the considered opinion that some protection against demolition of dwelling houses may be justified. Further the layout is meant for residential sites and this object of formation of layout would not be frustrated by saving lawfully constructed dwelling houses belonging to poor and middle-income groups," the bench said.

The court-appointed a committee headed by Justice A V Chandrasekhar, former judge of the Karnataka High Court, as its Chairman, Jayakar Jerome, former Commissioner of the BDA and S T Ramesh, former Director General of Police, as its members, to identify the lawful constructions made in the notified land.

"The Committee is required to look into each of the requests of the owners of the dwelling houses or buildings for its regularisation. The Committee should also find out whether the said dwelling houses or buildings have been constructed in accordance with the sanction or permission of the competent authorities," the court said.

The panel was asked to submit a report to the court preferably within a period of six months.

Taking up the matter for compliance of its 2018 judgement, the court went through an affidavit by the BDA Commissioner, wherein it was pointed out several constructions have been put up either by the land-owners or purchasers of the sites from the land-owners. Of these constructions, the most are mainly dwelling houses.

The court also directed the BDA to proceed with the acquisition of the land as proposed in the notification, issued after the 2018 judgement. It also clarified that the provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation & Resettlement Act, 2013 were not applicable for the acquisition made under the BDA Act.

"The constructions which have come up after the date of pronouncement of the judgment by this Court i e August 3, 2018, shall not be eligible for regularisation," it said.