BMRCL seeks HC nod to acquire land in Cubbon Park

In an interlocutory application to the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by Bimal Desai, which stated that any project in Cubbon park requires prior permission from the High Court, the BMRCL has sought permanent acquisition of 2136.71 sq m to construct a station and ancillary, while another 11,150.86 sq m for road diversion.

The BMRCL has stated that the land is required to construct an 800 meter long road in front of High Court upto Karnataka General Insurance Department (KGID) building. They further submitted that they need just five acres of land of the total 260 acres of Cubbon Park land, which constitutes just 0.2 per cent of the total land.
It further submitted that only 116 trees will be cut for the entire work along the stretch and 11 trees will be pruned.

M G Kumar, counsel for petitioner Desai, said that A N Yellappa Reddy headed committee to assess the environment impact had objected to the underground work here stating that the monuments like KGID building and High Court will be affected and sought time to file objections.

The division bench headed by Chief Justice P D Dinakaran adjourned the matter for two weeks. It could be recalled that the High Court way back in July 30, 1997 had ruled that any construction within Cubbon Park needs prior permission from High Court.