Palike allowed encroachment by UB City: Hegde

Palike allowed encroachment by UB City: Hegde
Thursday February 28 2008 08:34 IST

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BANGALORE: Karnataka Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde has pulled up Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for allowing builders of upmarket office complex UB City to flout the rules.

Justice Hegde said in his notice to the Palike Commissioner that the width of the Vittal Mallya road, on which the building stands, is shown to vary from 13.6 metres to 19.6 metres while the Land Records Department show the dimensions as varying from 14.65 mtrs to 21 mtrs.

Despite the Land Records Department survey, BBMP officials had approved the modified building plan by allowing encroachment, the notice said.

The building was in the news last year when BBMP surveyed it for nearly a fortnight and identified various deviations.

The residents in the neighbourhood had complained of encroachment of the sidewalk by the builders.

Further, the office space was occupied in the multi-storeyed building even before the Palike had issued an occupancy certificate.

Subsequently, builders of UB City (a joint venture between Prestige Group and United Breweries) paid a penalty of Rs 2.6 crore and applied for a modified building plan. BBMP issued a partial occupancy certificate and approved the modified building plan which is now being questioned.

BBMP Special Commissioner K R Srinivasa told this paper that he has asked the Joint Director (Town Planning) to look into the matter and restore the road width as per records.

Vice-president (Public Relations) at Prestige told this paper that the builders had gone by the road width according to the latest survey by land records department and that there was no encroachment.

“We don't understand why we are subjected to repeated embarrassment. Last year we met all legal obligations,” he said.