High Court slaps Rs one lakh cost on Ramanagar DC

 The High Court of Karnataka on Friday slapped a cost of Rs one lakh on Ramanagar deputy commissioner for not complying with the court orders for the past 34 years.

The petitioner  Channa­bas­a­v­aiah was granted 2.2 acres of agricultural land in Ramanahalli in 1978. The grant was questioned by village residents and the then deputy commissioner (of undivided Bangalore Rural district) had cancelled the allotment. The petitioner approached Karnataka Appellant Tribunal (KAT), which directed the DC to reconsider the allotment, but the direction was not acted upon.
Channabasavaiah approached the High Court in 2007 and again in 2012 and the court directed the DC to with the directions within six months. Since there was no action, the petitioner again moved the court for contempt. The Court directed the DC to pay the cost of Rs one lakh to the petitioner in 15 days and decide on the allotment of land in the next five months and report the same to the court.

Why not wind up KSPCB?

The HC came down heavily on the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board saying that it should be wound up “if it is not discharging its statutory duties.”

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice D H Waghela and Justice B V Nagarathna questioned the need of wasting money on board officials when they had not booked even a single case of noise pollution. Incidentally, the report of the same board points to consistent increase in noise pollution in many areas of the City.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by Malleswaram Resident’s Welfare Association against Ubhaya Vedanta Sabha alleging violation of building norms and creating noise pollution in the residential area. It had also taken up a suo motu petition on noise pollution.

The chief justice said that the board, though had the powers to enforce the Environment Protection Act, had failed to perform its duties. He sought to know whether any official of the board had ever read the rules pertaining to noise pollution.