HC rules Arkavathy Layout illegal

BDA's Arkavathy illegal

The Times of India

BANGALORE: The Bangalore Development Authority's ambitious 2,750-acre Arkavathy Layout on the city outskirts, with a plan for 28,600 housing sites, is off. In a far-reaching judgment for land development in Bangalore, the Karnataka High Court on Friday quashed the BDA's entire land acquisition proceedings for the project and termed it "illegal".

A single judge of the high court, Justice V. Gopal Gowda ruled that the BDA has no jurisdiction to frame development schemes in the Bangalore Metropolitan Area. The court came down heavily on former CM S.M. Krishna's decision to accord approval for the final notification for the project without placing the matter before his cabinet for approval.

The HC order comes following over 800 petitions filed against the Arkavathy project by land owners and others whose properties falling within the project area were sought to be acquired by the BDA. While ruling that the BDA has no jurisdiction to frame development schemes in the Bangalore Metropolitan Area, the high court has stated that the competent authorities are Municipal Planning Committees or District Planning Committees envisaged under the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1964.

The court has directed the state government to take immediate steps to issue notifications specifying the Metropolitan Planning Area as laid down in the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act and to constitute committees to frame development schemes. The high court has ordered that deputy commissioners and local authorities should not permit land conversion and construction without sanction of the metropolitan planning authorities.

In the absence of these committees, private builders and individuals are "not entitled to engage in construction activities in entire conurbation area," and any construction will be contrary to the KMC Act, the court ruled. The single judge — who heard the petitions against the Arkavathy project and the arguments of BDA and the state over a period of three months — passed the verdict after considering 15 key legal points.

The first point was whether the BDA — through the BDA Act — has jurisdiction upon the areas sought to be acquired which fall under local bodies like municipal councils and gram panchayats established under the KMC Act and the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act of 1993. The HC ruled the BDA has no jurisdiction since the KMC Act and the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act, which have received presidential assent, prevailed over the local BDA Act. The Bangalore Metropolitan Area and its 'adjacent areas' over which the BDA has jurisdiction as per the BDA Act is not defined and specified as required by law, the court pointed out.

The second key point was whether the Arkavathy scheme was properly framed by the state. The HC has ruled that the project was not properly framed and that the scheme was not valid. When the preliminary notification was issued, no plan was in place. When the final notification was sent for approval, a finalised plan was not in place, indicating modifications in the scheme, the court said.

"The question is what was the urgency for the chief minister to approve the scheme by himself pending ratification by cabinet," the judge observed. "This is the way in which the power conferred upon the responsible government by the people is being misused by none other than the then chief minister, who was the trustee of the people of the state."

The court also ruled that the preliminary notification issued by the BDA for acquisition of land is bad in law and stated that the notification should have been issued under the Land Acquisition Act instead of the BDA Act.