Jayamahal Palace Hotel case: Court stipulates 5-year limit for land use change

Bengaluru: The high court has said that the proposal to use the land belonging to a private property/entity has to be given effect within five years of the master plan coming into force and in the event such land is neither acquired by agreement nor by any notification, the reservation would lapse. Justice Suraj Govindaraj said this while allowing a petition filed by the owners of properties known as ‘Jayamahal Palace Hotel’, situated along Jayamahal Main Road in Bengaluru city.

The land had been earmarked for residential purposes in the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) of the year 2011 which was approved in January 1995. In the Revised Master Plan 2015, the demarcation was changed and the land was reserved for parks and green spaces, sports/playgrounds, and cemeteries/burial grounds. The petitioners contended that such reservation is ultra vires the constitution and therefore unconstitutional and are seeking for restoration of the status of the properties to residential/commercial zone as per CDP of 2011.

The BDA argued that irrespective of whether the land is acquired or not the classification in the Revised Master Plan will continue and the petitioners cannot challenge it since such reservation has been made for the orderly growth of the city of Bengaluru. It was also submitted that when land is designated for parks and open spaces, there is no requirement for acquisition and added that the classification in the RMP will continue irrespective of acquisition or not.

Justice Suraj Govindaraj noted that acquisition in terms of section 69 (1) of the Karnataka Town and Country Planning (KTCP) Act, 1961 is required to be made within a period of five years from such designation in the master plan, irrespective of the immediate use, so long as there is a proposal to use the land for public purposes as designated under Section 12 (1)of the KTCP Act.

The court further said upon lapsing of the reservation, the land owner would have to make an application under Section 69 (3) of the Act which would have to be considered on the basis of the surrounding developments and not restrictively in terms of Section 14A of the KTCP Act.

“On such designation having lapsed, it is available for the landowners to make a necessary application under Section 69(3) of the KTCP Act for re-designation of the land for a purpose for which the surrounding land having been put to use and that cannot be done by re-designating it for the same purpose as in the earlier CDP 2011,” the court said.

The court said the petitioners are at liberty to make an application in terms of Section 69 (3) of the KTCP Act on the basis of surrounding developments. The BDA should consider and pass necessary orders within a period of 180 days.