HC nod for gas management centre

The High Court on Monday allowed the construction of the office of the Regional Gas Management Centre at Manyata Nagar, Rachenahalli in Bangalore East Taluk, by the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL).

The court passed an interim stay on the single bench order which had quashed the leasing of the civic amenity (CA) sites by BDA to GAIL. A division bench comprising Chief Justice D H Waghela and Justice B V Nagarathna passed the order permitting GAIL to go ahead with the construction.

The division bench clarified that the final order will be subject to the outcome of the writ appeal. GAIL started laying of gas pipelines in 2010 and sought land to construct the Regional Gas Management Centre. On the direction of the government, BDA leased out two CA sites for Rs 4.36 crore each.

A PIL was filed by Manyata Residents’ Association challenging this. Justice Anand Byrareddy had quashed the allotment of CA sites to GAIL, saying BDA had violated rules. GAIL filed a writ appeal, questioning the single bench’s jurisdiction of quashing the allotment of the sites. The appellant had stated that an amount of Rs 10 crore was already spent on construction of the gas control stations and there would be huge losses if the construction was stopped.

Restore post office: HC

The High Court has directed the Union government, Department of Posts to restore the post office in Vasanthnagar in a petition filed by Satinderpal Chopra. The petitioner has filed a PIL arguing that the closure of the said post office had caused a lot of inconvenience to the public. The petitioner said the post office, located on a private property, remained closed for over two years and residents and senior citizens faced it hard travelling to post offices located far away. A division bench headed by Chief Justice D H Waghela directed that the post office be restored.

‘Annadana’ okayed

The High Court on Monday disposed of a petition filed by Lokesh Siyal, seeking permission to distribute free food (annadana) to the poor and toys to children during the car festival of Muthyalamma Devi on Seppings Road on April 24. Justice S Abdul Nazeer directed the petitioner not to involve in any act which would attract election code of conduct rules during the annadana. The bench also directed him to carry out the annadana from 12 pm to 3 pm only.