SC panel to validate legal buildings in Karanth Layout

In Dec 2020, the SC ordered that buildings constructed in the notified areas of the layout with valid sanction/permission from the competent authorities

Owners will need to submit a host of documents to validate their buildings in the notified areas of Shivarama Karanth Layout, a committee appointed by the Supreme Court has said.

The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) had proposed to develop Shivarama Karanth Layout in 2008, touting it as the second largest residential area after Kempegowda Layout. It was planned over an area of 3,546.12 acres in 17 villages located between Doddaballapur and Hesaraghatta in northern Bengaluru, with a staggering 18,975 sites.

But the project soon faced one hiccup after another.

Landowners went to court against a preliminary notification issued by the BDA for acquiring land, and the final notification never came. The project got almost buried when the High Court of Karnataka cancelled it in September 2015. But the BDA went in for an appeal, and the Supreme Court gave it the go-ahead on August 3, 2018.

In December 2020, the apex court ordered that buildings constructed in the notified areas of the layout with valid sanction/permission from the competent authorities need to be saved from demolition.

It also constituted a three-member committee and ordered it to seek applications from the owners of buildings and look into each request for regularising the building. The committee was given six months to submit the report.

The committee members have already visited the notified areas. The committee has opened help centres at Somashetty Halli, Byalakere, Singanayakanahalli, Medi Agrahara and BDA head office (Sankey Road) where building owners can submit their applications, its chairperson Justice (retd) A V Chandrashekar told reporters.

He said that initial satellite images showed that there were about 2,500 buildings in the notified areas 10 years ago, and the number might have gone up to over 7,000.

“We have adopted technology to validate these buildings, and a special portal has been designed for the purpose. Building owners have to submit the documents and we will check them,” he explained.

The committee will verify the documents of only those buildings that were constructed before August 3, 2018. The documents can be submitted at the help centre or uploaded directly to the portal or website (jcc-skl.in).