JOIN USIn a major setback to the realty major DLF Limited, the High Court on Tuesday ordered status quo of its Begur-Hulimavu residential apartment project and directed the firm not to sell any flats in the said project till further orders.
A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice S K Mukherjee and Justice B V Nagarathna, hearing a PIL filed by Anil Agarwal, passed the order directing the parties to maintain status quo . The counsel for the petitioner, G Prashanth contended that the width of the road was 9.6 metres for which only four floors can be constructed as per the Floor Area Ratio (FAR). However, anticipating approval to widen the road from the existing 9.6 metres to 24 metres, the BDA, especially the then commissioners, gave nod to construct 30 floors.
While the Comprehensive Development Plan approved widening of Begur-Hulimavu Road by 18 metres, which permitted only 18 floors as per the new FAR, the BDA permitted DLF to construct 30 floors. The widening of the said road to 24-metre-wide would have resulted in encroaching upon the stormwater drain, government land and some private properties too.
The division bench ordered notice and granted status quo in the matter.
The case first figured in 2012 when the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) registered an FIR against the BDA officials and grilled some of the former commissioners for giving their nod. The petitioner has made senior IAS officers Bharatlal Meena, K M Shivakumar, Pradeep Singh Kharola, the BDA, the BBMP and the State government as respondents in the case.