High Court directs BMP to `unseal' premises

High Court directs BMP to `unseal' premises
The Hindu

They were sealed citing violation of zonal regulations

# Several software firms had petitioned the court following the BMP action
# Sadashivanagar Residents' Association has opposed unsealing the premises

BANGALORE: Proprietors of several business and commercial establishments in Sadashivanagar here heaved a sigh of relief when the Karnataka High Court on Friday came to their rescue and directed the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) to "unseal" their premises that it had locked some time ago.

Several software firms had petitioned the court after their premises were sealed and locked by the BMP, citing violation of zonal regulations.

The BMP claimed that the land on which the premises stood had been categorised as residential. However, the owners and tenants of the buildings had not obtained legal sanction to convert the land from residential to commercial. Thus, there was illegal change in the land use.

The BMP said while it was vested with the authority to sanction the building plan and collect taxes, it was the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) which was empowered to sanction change in the land use.

The BMP said it had found that a majority of the buildings it surveyed in the area had illegally changed the land use.

The petitioners said the BMP had not given them sufficient time or notice and that the civic body's action was arbitrary. They said the sealing and locking up of their premises had led to problems and software companies had suffered huge losses.

They had urged the court to stay the sealing.

In his interim order, Justice B.S. Patil directed the BMP to unseal and open the lock of the premises belonging to the petitioners, including software companies, and posted all matters connected with the issue to November 29.

Mr. Justice Patil had last week given similar relief to banks and other business establishments whose premises had been sealed.

Residents' stand

The Sadashivanagar Residents' Association, which had petitioned the High Court against the illegal buildings in the area and on whose petition the BMP had taken up a survey, has indicated that it would file an interlocutory application before the court seeking to be impleaded in the case before Mr. Justice Patil.

It also opposed the move to unseal the premises.

The association had handed over to the court a list of illegal buildings and had sought its intervention to set right the deviations in the area.