Arbitrary acquisition lands BDA in the soup

Arbitrary acquisition lands BDA in the soup

The Hindu

An entire layout envisaged by the BDA, the Rajamahalvilas II Stage, was scuttled by private societies. In the late Seventies, the then Chairman of the authority, B.T. Somanna, wanted to allot land only to those paying for sites in foreign exchange.

# Landowner always treated as non-entity
# Acquisition notification is published in State Gazette, but the landowner is kept in the dark.
# Notifications are published on website, but very few landowners are computer-savvy.
# Those who come to know of the BDA's moves, sell their land after the acquisition notification is issued.
# If the buyer builds a house, BDA demolition squads pull it down.
# It is not rare for an allottee who has paid taxes to the BDA for years, to see an unauthorised construction come up on his site.

BANGALORE: The judgment of the Karnataka High Court quashing the acquisition of land for the ambitious Arkavathy Layout is a commentary on the way the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has been treating owners of agricultural lands to form residential layouts.

The significance of the judgment is that it is for the first time in the 59-year-history of the BDA and its predecessor the City Improvement Trust Board that the acquisition of land for an entire layout has been struck down.

No doubt, the acquisition of land has never been a smooth affair.

Thousands of individual landowners have challenged the acquisition of their properties in the courts and taken the cases up to the Supreme Court.

As in the case of most urban settlements, most areas in Bangalore have been developed by acquiring agricultural lands.

Before the City Improvement Trust Board was formed, the Bangalore City Corporation was developing the layouts.

In fact, even the offices of the BDA in Kumarapark West have come up on what was the vast private property of the Raja of Venkatagiri in Andhra Pradesh. Even the acquisition of the Venkatagiri property had been challenged in courts.

Housing societies

The first major challenge to the BDA's layout formation activities came from the housing cooperative societies, which mushroomed in the Seventies. In many cases, lands earmarked or even notified for acquisition by the BDA came to be cornered by the societies. An entire layout envisaged by the BDA, the Rajamahalvilas II Stage, was scuttled by private societies. In the late Seventies, the then Chairman of the Authority, B.T. Somanna, had embarked on the layout project and wanted to allot land only to those paying for the sites in foreign exchange. A deposit of Rs. 20,000 in foreign exchange (later modified to rupees) from each applicant was collected.

Political patronage

But the BDA could not acquire the land it had planned and housing societies, which had become powerful thanks to political patronage formed layouts. What is today the RMV II Stage extension is only a remnant of what had been thought of by the BDA.

In another instance, a layout planned by the BDA and for which acquisition of land had been completed, never took off. It was the Venkateshwara Layout, a small housing colony planned on Mysore Road.

One of the reasons for the "docket explosion' in the courts of law in Bangalore, including the High Court, is the way the BDA has been handling the question of acquisition of land. Besides the extreme arbitrariness in acquisition is the low compensation paid to the dispossessed landowners. The market rate is never paid.

No doubt the landowners who have lost their properties through BDA acquisitions have been better off than the lakhs of landowners in the State who lost their properties under the Karnataka Land Reforms Act (1961), whose 1974 amendment was pushed through in the days of the Emergency.

The landowners who lost their lands were awarded measly compensation that too in bonds redeemable after decades.

BDA's fault

It has for long been the complaint that it is the BDA itself which drives the landowners to seek succour from the courts.

First, the landowner is always treated as a non-entity.

The notice regarding the acquisition is never served on him.

The landowner is lucky if he comes to know of the BDA's moves.

No doubt the acquisition notification is published in the State Gazette, which few come across as only a few hundred copies are printed by the Government Printing Press.

It might be that in recent years such notifications are published on the BDA website. But as most landowners have no computers, they remain in the dark about such announcements.

It is only the better off among the landowners, who come to know of the BDA's moves, sell their land to individuals after the acquisition notification is issued and approach the courts.

In case the gullible buyer of such lands builds a house, the BDA's demolition squads arrive to mow it down. Politicians emerge on the scene.

Unauthorised structures

In extreme cases, troublesome landowners put up structures, including pucca houses on sites, which have been allotted. It is not rare for an allottee who has paid land tax to the BDA towards his site for years, to be faced with the horror of an unauthorised construction or face threats from hoodlums when he sets out to build a house.

The BDA has a police force to deal with unscrupulous landowners, whose tribe has increased.

Another major complaint against the BDA, which has for long been regarded as a major factor for corruption, is the notification of unwanted properties for acquisition.

Many properties not contiguous to the proposed layout are notified for acquisition and the hapless landowner is forced to approach the Government for denotifying the property.

That properties are denotified at the government level for a consideration has been the allegation.

The Janata Dal (Secular) leaders have levelled such allegations against those who were in the previous (Congress) government and it is a major issue in the Congress-Janata Dal (S) war of allegations.

Acquisition of land in and around Bangalore as also major urban centres in the State has become a major business or racket involving unscrupulous politicians, officials, land-grabbers and middlemen as also black sheep among the advocates.

There are cases of the BDA itself taking disciplinary action against its erring land acquisition officials.

Two successive deputy commissioners of the BDA dealing with the matter were

dismissed from government service in the Nineties. But one of them was later welcomed back into service.