HC cancels notification on land acquisition for private bus stand

S P Mahadevappa and three others had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the court stating that the decision to construct private bus stand and star hotel in the three acre land belonging to Agriculture University is illegal. After hearing the PIL, Divisional Bench lead by High Court Justice J S Kehar, judge A S Bopanna directed the district administration to cancel the notification.

When contacted Deputy Commissioner K H Ashwathanarayana Gowda said “we have not yet received the High Court order. I can comment only after going through the verdict of Court.”

It may be recalled that owing to the efforts of Assembly Speaker K G Bopaiah and MLA M P Appachu Ranjan, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa had convened a meeting at Bangalore Agriculture University to urge the University authorities to hand over its three acre land in Madikeri for the construction of private bus stand. Later, even the district administration earmarked the land for the private bus stand. However, as per the rules, the district administration should have issued a notification under Land Acquisition Act Section 6 (1) before acquiring the land. Without the notification, there will be no objections from the public and the Agriculture University for the construction of bus stand.

Those who filed PIL had said in the PIL that there is land available near the KSRTC bus stand, which can be used for the construction of private bus stand. They had even said that the proposed bus stand in three acre land belonging to Agriculture department is two kms away from the present bus stand.