Sakrama: PIL to come up in HC on Monday

Sakrama: PIL to come up in HC on Monday
Monday December 10 2007 08:01 IST

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

BANGALORE: The PIL challenging Karnataka Government’s amendment to Karnataka Town and Country Planning (KTCP) Act through Sakrama scheme is coming up before the High Court on Monday.

The three-month scheme, Sakrama, which had commenced in September ends next Friday. The scheme sought to regularise building deviations by levying a penalty.

However, many property owners in the State found it unfair as the civic bodies had issued occupancy certificates to these buildings. The procedure was also too complicated.

Sakrama sought to regularise up to 25 per cent of deviations in case of commercial structures and 50 per cent in case of residences. As the Act was silent about what should be done with the deviations in excess to these limits, people feared demolition of their buildings.

The Act is also silent about the officials who had abetted violations. Citizens’ fora in the State demanded that the penalty be shared between the building owner and the officials responsible for violations.

Last week, the Governor held a meeting of the executive committee, but it did not take any stand on the issue as the government could not modify or repeal legislative action. The government had decided to wait for the HC order on the issue.

As the issue was before the court, the Governor did not write to the Centre. The Advocate General is expected to file a report on Sakrama on Monday before the HC and seek further directions.