BBMP told to take action against illegal buildings on field, not just on paper

The Karnataka High Court has asked the BBMP to take action against illegal constructions on the field and not on paper.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum said if action is taken in one or two cases involving the “who’s who” category of people, it would set an example.

The bench perused the personal affidavit filed by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Chief Commissioner, who was present in the court, which stated that 1,31,745 buildings have been surveyed in all eight zones as on November 30.

Civic authorities have served notices under Section 313 of the BBMP Act to owners of 16,286 of the buildings asking for documents showing that they have valid sanctioned plans. It also said three structures have been razed until December first week.

The senior counsel representing the BBMP told the court that the survey is still underway, and action will be taken as per law. He said 1,712 owners have filed their replies to the notice. The court was told that buildings suspected to have deviated from the sanctioned plan or constructed without a plan have been surveyed.

The affidavit stated that the teams surveyed 75,008 buildings in Bommanahalli Zone and served notices to 4,779 of them.

In Rajarajeshwari Nagar, they surveyed 38,147 buildings and 1,687 received notices. In the West Zone, 10,619 buildings were surveyed and 2,701 were served notices.

The advocate urged the court for more time to comply with its directions.

“Considering the submission made by the counsel for the BBMP, we grant three months’ time to the BBMP to execute the action taken plan as prepared by them and file the compliance report on the basis of annexure number 4 and 5 (details of survey and notice). The officer (Chief Commissioner) present will appear again on the next date,” the court said.

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