Judicial Layout: High Court tells HBCS to submit plan by June 30

The High Court on Wednesday directed the Karnataka State Judicial Department Employees’ House Building Co-operative Society to prepare a plan for the 194-acre Judicial Layout and submit it to the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) for sanction by June 30.

A division bench comprising Justices Ram Mohan Reddy and H Billappa, while disposing of a 14-year-old PIL, directed the BDA to inspect the layout, conduct a physical verification and submit a report to the state government in accordance with the BDA Act and Town and Country Planning Act, within four months. The bench ordered the state government to act on the report within one month of receiving it.

The Judicial Layout Residents' and Site Owners' Association and retired judges had moved the court seeking a CBI probe into the affairs of the HBCS. The petitioners had contended that the office-bearers of the HBCS had sold the land reserved for civic amenities by converting them into residential sites, in violation of the approved layout plan. 

The bench directed the BBMP to go ahead with the compendium report on developing the CA sites and complete the process in six months. 

It dropped the contempt petition filed against the society for violating the court’s order which had restrained the society from selling any sites in said layout.