40 years on, Karnataka govt ‘legalises’ land grab by police department

The government has papered over a case of land grab by the police and compensated the Income Tax department, whose land they grabbed.

The Bengaluru police commissioner’s office on Bhagwan Mahavira Road (earlier Infantry Road) stands on the land belonging to the Income Tax department.

Encroachment of government land is punishable with a jail term.

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Documents accessed under RTI show that 35 years after the Income Tax department complained against the police department, the state government has decided not to evict the illegal occupant. Instead, it has allotted alternative land by acquiring it from the BDA for Rs 26.43 crore.

On March 2, the state government paid the amount to the BDA for 34,848 sq ft which it will hand over to the tax department, putting an end to a four-decade-long wait. Had the land been auctioned as per the rules, the BDA would have got at least Rs 50 crore, going by recent transactions in the area.

The payment was made on the back of a government order dated February 10, 2023, which approved the allotment of alternative land “in lieu of the encroachment of land by the police department on Infantry Road”.

The case dates back to March 1984 when the Income Tax department bought 2.5 acres from Ramanathapuram Samasthanam Devasthanam Trust.

Ever since it took possession, the department has been running from pillar to post trying to evict the police department, which had occupied 9,377 sq ft.

In July 1992, the department wrote to the then chief secretary J Alexander with survey records, a court order, and a fresh joint survey report by the revenue department showing that police were squatting on the property.

“It may be quite embarrassing to the department to approach the court or any other authorities to vacate an illegal encroachment made by the police department on a property belonging to the Government of India,” the
letter said, seeking a resolution.

At the time, the encroachment was punishable with a one-year jail term under Drug Offenders, Gamblers, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders and Slub Grabbers Act 1985, which defined ‘slum grabber’ as anyone illegally occupying government or private land or constructing structures and any person who abets such an act. In July 1996, at a meeting, the then Minister of State for Home Roshan Baig “concurred” with the home department’s argument that the Income Tax department should not claim the land but request Karnataka for an alternative site. Over the next 10 years, the state government kept the taxmen waiting, saying no alternative land was available in the heart of the city.

In 2010, the Income Tax department rejected the state government’s attempt to allot land whose value was much lower than that of the prime property under encroachment on Infantry Road.

In November 2017, the state government directed its officials to find alternative land but the matter went cold soon.

In 2021, the I-T department wrote to the chief secretary after the Prime Minister’s Office sought details of the land dispute. Following the exchange of yet another series of letters, the state government identified a 34,848 sq ft site in RMV Extension, recovered by the BDA after a prolonged legal dispute.

In a nutshell

What I-T dept lost: 9,377 sq ft on Infantry Road

Year of encroachment: 1984

What it is getting: 34,848 sq ft in RMV Extension

How much govt is paying BDA: Rs 26.43 crore

Market value of the land: Over Rs 50 crore