HC extends bar on demolition of Janatha Bazaar

The high court on Wednesday pulled up the state government and the BBMP over their failure to submit the statement of objections in a 2018 PIL petition pertaining to the Janatha Bazaar building on KG Road.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi extended the interim relief restraining the demolition of the building.

At the hearing on Wednesday, the bench noted that it had given a month’s time as a final opportunity for filing a response on January 17, 2020, but no response was filed either by the state government, the BBMP or the BDA.

“It is very sorry state of affairs. We cannot appreciate the manner in which the government authorities taking the court orders so lightly. The cases cannot be heard in absence of proper assistance from the state side and they are unnecessarily kept pending,” the court said and directed for placing the copy of the order before the chief secretary for issuing necessary instructions to the authorities, including local bodies to ensure proper assistance to the court.

“In case we are compelled to pass strict orders against the authorities for their non-cooperation in the disposal of the cases, then we will not hesitate to pass such orders in future,” the bench said.

The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) has filed a PIL petition seeking protection and conservation of the Janatha Bazaar building.

It contended that Janatha Bazaar was an Asiatic building inaugurated on September 11, 1935, by the then Yuvaraja of Mysore, Sri Kantirava Narasimharaja Wadiyar, to house the Asiatic Company, a life insurance pioneer set up in June 1913.

INTACH said the Public Works Department (PWD) had issued notices to its occupants following its December 27, 2016, sanction order for demolition.

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