<p>Bengaluru: The <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/karnataka-high-court">Karnataka High Court</a> has dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking the demolition of the Passport Seva Kendra at Koramangala, which claimed that the 1.30-acre parcel of land on which the building stands was a playground.</p>.<p>A division bench comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice CM Poonacha noted that a 2023 amendment to the 1994 government order allotting the land had corrected an error in the original survey numbers.</p>.<p>The bench also observed that the petitioner had failed to produce any zonal plans showing the land as a playground or an open space.</p>.Karnataka High Court upholds APMC’s acquisition of 281 acres on Bengaluru's Magadi Road.<p>The petitioner — Dr BR Ambedkar Youth Social and Cultural Welfare Trust — had contended that the 1.30 acres of land in Survey No 12 of Koramangala Village, Begur Hobli, Bengaluru, had been used as a playground for several decades by children from nearby schools.</p>.<p>It was further claimed that the land belonged to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (now the Greater Bengaluru Authority).</p>.<p>Citing the Karnataka Parks, Play-Fields and Open Spaces (Preservation and Regulation) Act, the petitioner argued that land earmarked as a park or playground could not be put to any other use.</p>.<p>Opposing the petition, the Union government submitted that the original government order issued on November 19, 1994, contained an error with respect to Survey No 61.</p>.<p>The Additional Solicitor General informed the court that the three acres of land allotted to the Ministry of External Affairs for the Regional Passport Office were located under different survey numbers, and that the mistake was rectified through an amendment issued on January 25, 2023.</p>.<p>“In view of the amendment to the Government Order allotting lands to the central government, the assumption on which the present petition rests does not hold good. Undisputedly, the central government is occupying the land as allotted to it,” the bench said.</p>.<p>While acknowledging the petitioner’s concern over the shrinking of open spaces in the city, the court held that it could not restrain the central government from using land duly allotted to it.</p>.<p>The bench further noted that no zonal plans had been produced to establish that the land in question was designated as a playground or open area.</p>
<p>Bengaluru: The <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/karnataka-high-court">Karnataka High Court</a> has dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking the demolition of the Passport Seva Kendra at Koramangala, which claimed that the 1.30-acre parcel of land on which the building stands was a playground.</p>.<p>A division bench comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice CM Poonacha noted that a 2023 amendment to the 1994 government order allotting the land had corrected an error in the original survey numbers.</p>.<p>The bench also observed that the petitioner had failed to produce any zonal plans showing the land as a playground or an open space.</p>.Karnataka High Court upholds APMC’s acquisition of 281 acres on Bengaluru's Magadi Road.<p>The petitioner — Dr BR Ambedkar Youth Social and Cultural Welfare Trust — had contended that the 1.30 acres of land in Survey No 12 of Koramangala Village, Begur Hobli, Bengaluru, had been used as a playground for several decades by children from nearby schools.</p>.<p>It was further claimed that the land belonged to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (now the Greater Bengaluru Authority).</p>.<p>Citing the Karnataka Parks, Play-Fields and Open Spaces (Preservation and Regulation) Act, the petitioner argued that land earmarked as a park or playground could not be put to any other use.</p>.<p>Opposing the petition, the Union government submitted that the original government order issued on November 19, 1994, contained an error with respect to Survey No 61.</p>.<p>The Additional Solicitor General informed the court that the three acres of land allotted to the Ministry of External Affairs for the Regional Passport Office were located under different survey numbers, and that the mistake was rectified through an amendment issued on January 25, 2023.</p>.<p>“In view of the amendment to the Government Order allotting lands to the central government, the assumption on which the present petition rests does not hold good. Undisputedly, the central government is occupying the land as allotted to it,” the bench said.</p>.<p>While acknowledging the petitioner’s concern over the shrinking of open spaces in the city, the court held that it could not restrain the central government from using land duly allotted to it.</p>.<p>The bench further noted that no zonal plans had been produced to establish that the land in question was designated as a playground or open area.</p>