Sakrama scheme only within legal framework, HC told

The State government on Monday submitted in the High Court that the Akrama-Sakrama Bill notified by the Urban Development Department on May 28, 2014 to regularise illegal construction in the City will be within the provision of the law.

During the hearing of a PIL by Namma Bengaluru Foundation and others, challenging the government's recent bill on regularisation of illegal structures, Advocate General Ravivarma Kumar submitted that the government had decided to regularise those violations which can only be done so under the law.

“The State was confronted with such a situation that many buildings had escaped the tax net. This regularisation process is only for those, which can be regularised under laws," he said.

Counsel for petitioner Sajan Pooviah submitted that the bill - The Karnataka Town and Country Planning (Regularisation of Unauthorised Constructions) Rules, 2014, - will hamper the interest of law-abiding citizens. “A person can violate all norms and build a structure blocking air and sunlight of adjoining building and then pay money and get his construction regularised. The sufferers will be the law-abiding citizens," he said.

A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice S K Mukherjee and Justice B V Nagarathna  adjourned the matter after the Advocate General sought time to file his objections.