Clear lake encroachments in 6 months: HC

A division bench of the High Court comprising acting Chief Justice S K Mukherjee and Justice Ravi Malimath on Wednesday dir­e­c­­ted the Bengaluru Develo­p­m­­­ent Authority (BDA) to remove all encroachments on the Hosakerehalli lake in Ben­g­­a­luru South within six months.

After passing the order, the bench disposed of a petition seeking directions to demolish illegal structures encroaching upon the Hosakerehalli tank in survey number 15, Uttarahalli hobli, Bengaluru South taluk. The government counsel informed the court that steps are being taken to remove the encroachments. Petitioner N Sriram Reddy, an advocate who appeared in person, contended that illegal structures had encroached upon six acres and 17.5 guntas of the tank whose total area was 59.26 acres. 

Misuse of funds
The High Court has directed the BBMP commissioner to be present before the court in a petition filed by advocates questioning the misuse of funds allotted for law books for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

The petitioners Suresh and 108 others contended that grants of Rs 4.64 crore meant for law books were used for the ‘Sadhana Samavesha’ function by the previous government.

Through an RTI, the petitioners were given information that the grant allotted for books were used for holding a function by the BBMP. Justice S Abdul Nazeer passed an order directing the BBMP comm­is­sioner to be present at the next hearing and adjourned the matter to February 17, 2016.