<p>The high court has imposed a cost of Rs 5 lakh on the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) for embarking upon a frivolous litigation in a land acquisition matter.</p>.<p>The BDA had filed an appeal against the August 10, 2011 order passed by a city civil court on the question of possession over 2.32 acres of land situated at Alahalli village, Uttarahalli Hobli, Bengaluru South taluk.</p>.<p>The civil court had passed the decree in favour of S Venkataramana Reddy and his sister Vinutha M Reddy on the question of possession over the land. The BDA’s claim was that it had initiated the acquisition proceedings in respect to the said land, for formation of JP Nagar 9th Stage layout, prior to the contesting parties purchased the land.</p>.<p>The contesting parties argued that BDA was a party to the joint memo, filed before the court, wherein the contesting party had agreed to surrender 12 per cent of the developed land in the private layout to be formed, as per government’s scheme, to the BDA free of cost and in return BDA would withdraw all their objections.</p>.<p>Justice V Shrishananda noted that the BDA being a party to the joint memo involved itself in an unwanted litigation. The court noted that on February 28, 2012, itself, the high court had quashed the February 20, 2010, resolution of the BDA to contest the matter and was directed to go back on the joint memo filed before the high court in 1999.</p>.<p>"Government or statutory bodies are invested with necessary paraphernalia than an individual litigant. Therefore, they should strive hard in lessening the burden on the judiciary by their fairness in resolving the disputes in the court of law. In other words, government or statutory bodies can act as a model litigant. But BDA has failed to do so in the case on hand..," the court said.</p>
<p>The high court has imposed a cost of Rs 5 lakh on the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) for embarking upon a frivolous litigation in a land acquisition matter.</p>.<p>The BDA had filed an appeal against the August 10, 2011 order passed by a city civil court on the question of possession over 2.32 acres of land situated at Alahalli village, Uttarahalli Hobli, Bengaluru South taluk.</p>.<p>The civil court had passed the decree in favour of S Venkataramana Reddy and his sister Vinutha M Reddy on the question of possession over the land. The BDA’s claim was that it had initiated the acquisition proceedings in respect to the said land, for formation of JP Nagar 9th Stage layout, prior to the contesting parties purchased the land.</p>.<p>The contesting parties argued that BDA was a party to the joint memo, filed before the court, wherein the contesting party had agreed to surrender 12 per cent of the developed land in the private layout to be formed, as per government’s scheme, to the BDA free of cost and in return BDA would withdraw all their objections.</p>.<p>Justice V Shrishananda noted that the BDA being a party to the joint memo involved itself in an unwanted litigation. The court noted that on February 28, 2012, itself, the high court had quashed the February 20, 2010, resolution of the BDA to contest the matter and was directed to go back on the joint memo filed before the high court in 1999.</p>.<p>"Government or statutory bodies are invested with necessary paraphernalia than an individual litigant. Therefore, they should strive hard in lessening the burden on the judiciary by their fairness in resolving the disputes in the court of law. In other words, government or statutory bodies can act as a model litigant. But BDA has failed to do so in the case on hand..," the court said.</p>
