BDA Lok Adalat of little help to aggrieved site owners

Many complain their plots are either usurped or denotified

The Lok Adalat organised by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) on Wednesday disappointed a majority of the aggrieved who had come from far-off places. 

The BDA listed 736 cases for hearing during the two-day adalat. Out of the 293 cases scheduled for Wednesday, only 112 were heard. 

At least 4,000 cases are pending in various courts, including those pertaining to allotment of sites, civic amenity sites, building plan sanction, incentive site allotment and khata transfer. On Day One, 49 cases of site allotment, 14 cases of building plan sanction, five cases of incentive site allotment and 44 khata transfer cases were resolved. 

Among the complainants were Srikanth Channal and his four friends, who were allotted sites in Jnanabharati Extension, comprising 20-odd plots, in 2002. A couple of years ago, when they went to see their sites, someone else claimed ownership of them and asked them if they want to “buy” the sites. 

The complainants were under the impression that they owned the sites because possession certificates were issued to them, khatas were transferred in their names and they were paying property taxes regularly. But the Kumaraswamy government, in 2006, denotified the entire layout, ‘illegally’. “We have been fighting the case in the court as well as in other fora. We thought the Lok Adalat would dispose of our cases at the earliest, instead of dragging us unnecessarily to court. However, we were told that only select cases were listed for hearing,” said Channal.

Similarly, R Radha travelled all the way from Mysore to get her site in Arkavathi Layout, which is mired in controversy. In 2006, she was allotted a 1,200-sq ft site, bearing number 607 in Block-8 of the layout, near Jakkur. 

When she went to see her site, she was told that it had been denotified.

“I live in a rented house at Hegde Nagar and wanted to build my own house with the money I got after my retirement. But all my hopes were dashed after learning about the denotification. I was told that my case has not been listed for hearing,” said Radha.