BBMP finds mutt’s papers fake, cancels building plan sanction

Letter produced by Ramachandrapura Mutt showing NOC from BDA is forged, civic body concludes

Correcting its earlier order to grant building plan sanction and khata to Ramachandrapura Mutt for a Civic Amenity (CA) site in Girinagar, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike has issued an order cancelling the permission.

In the order, the BBMP commissioner said the mutt had illegally created a single-page order reportedly issued by the Bangalore Development Authority on April 6, 1985, to claim a No Objection Certificate (NOC) which it presented to get sanction for the building plan and the khata.

The mutt claimed to have bought 21,249 square feet of land from Vishwabharathi House Building Co-operative Society in 1979.

After 31 years, it filed an application with the BDA in December 2010 asking for
NOC for the khata registration (for the CA site number 2 [a]).

The mutt later filed a fresh application attaching the 1985 letter purportedly issued by the then BDA commissioner asking the society to pay Rs 5.36 lakh as the cost of the site.

Though the BDA issued the NOC, it did not find the letter in its records and in 2013, the BBMP sanctioned the plan based on the NOC.

Petitions challenging the plan sanction were filed in the high court which ordered the BBMP to hold an inquiry into the matter.

In its probe, the civic body found that the BDA did not possess the 1985 letter which the mutt submitted to get the NOC.

While checking the modified plan of the layout approved in 1981, the BBMP also found that the sites which the mutt claims to have purchased are CA sites.

“The 1985 letter is a Xerox copy and the original is not available with the BDA. This clearly goes to show that the letter had not been issued by the BDA. In other words, it appears that the mutt illegally managed to get this order,” BBMP commissioner Manjunath Prasad said in the April 7 order.

“The BBMP had effected the khata of civic amenity site on the basis of NOC issued by the BDA, which is illegal. Therefore, the issue of khata and the construction plan
in respect of the CA sites are illegal,” Prasad stated in the order.

Prasad also rejected the mutt’s plea that it used the property for religious and public reasons that are “akin” to civic amenity. He said land had been converted for residential utility and constructing buildings cannot be considered public or religious.

The BBMP’s Additional Director for Town Planning Vijay Gopal said he heard about the order but was yet to receive it. “I’ll take action once the file reaches me,” he added.