Supreme Court orders status quo on Karnataka HC's order to BDA to give back land to senior citizen

The Supreme Court on Monday ordered status quo "as of today" on Karnataka High Court's order to the Bangalore Development Authority to give vacant and peaceful posession of 63,000 sq ft of land to a senior citizen for "unauthorised deprivation of his property" in prime area of the city.

A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna issued notice to P G Belliappa seeking his response within four weeks on a plea by the Bangalore Development Authority.

The petitioner before the HC claimed his land at Banashankari, Bengaluru, was taken in 2002 without any due acquisition process, for formation of roads, parks and sites.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, and advocate Ankur Kulkarni, appearing for the BDA sought status quo in the matter, contending that the road was being constructed in the area.

On this, the court said, "Until further orders, status quo, as of today, shall be maintained by the parties".

The bench said we would like to hear the matter in details after four weeks.

Senior advocate Raju Ramachandra, appearing for Belliappa said that it was shocking that the land was acquired without authorisation. He said they should either restore or the other option was to grant compensation as per the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 Act.

In the plea filed by Belliappa and the BDA, the High Court has on November 5, 2019 directed the development authority to give back the land or take due recourse to acquisition proceedings under the 2013 Act and pay him the compensation.

In 2002, the petitioner was promised 50 % of the sital area. However, in 2018, the BDA decided to give him an area of just 17,296 sq ft as compensation for the utilized land of 63,000 sq ft. Subsequently, the BDA decided to give him reduced extent of 11,979 sq ft.