City college at mercy of land grabbers

City college at mercy of land grabbers
By R Venkatesh,DH News Service,Bangalore:
More than 20,000 sq ft of land belonging to the Government Composite Pre-university College at Domlur is under threat as some worthies in the area with the backing of smalltime goons are gobbling it up.

Land sharks, in connivance with local politicians, have appropriated prime land worth several crores of rupees on Domlur Main Road here.

More than 20,000 sq ft of land belonging to the Government Composite Pre-university College at Domlur is under threat as some worthies in the area with the backing of smalltime goons are gobbling it up.

Overnight, a Karumariamman idol was installed on the college site and several devotees have lined up for darshan. Interestingly, tents have also come up on the site as part of the temple construction activity.
The college—with hundreds of students studying in commerce, arts and science streams—is running under the mercy of the BBMP, as it has no land of its own.

In 1993, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) had leased out a piece of land (250/93/27-9-93) adjacent to the BMTC bus depot at Domlur for 30 years to the Education Department under the civic amenity quota.
The Betterment Committee of the Education Department sanctioned Rs 4 lakh to kickstart the civil work. The then corporator, Gopal Reddy, one of the main trustees of the Shani Mahatma Devastanam Trust, raised objections and approached the High Court against the BDA for granting the land to the educational institution. In a short period, the High Court gave a ruling in favour of the BDA.

Encroachment

In the meantime, the temple trust encroached upon around 1,200 sq ft of land and anointed a Navagraha temple.

However, the Education Department, seeking justice, was forced to approach the court. While the case went on for years, the trustees approached the authorities and tried to strike a barter deal — donating a few classrooms and a compound wall in return for the encroached land.

Though it was illegal, under tremendous pressure, the authorities were forced to withdraw the case on February 2, 2005.

Now, when the college plans to construct a full-fledged state-of-the-art building, another temple issue has cropped up.

The college principal has approached the jurisdictional police to get back their land. The Bangalore city police commissioner repeatedly sent warnings against the land grabbers, but this time, the miscreants are playing a “temple” tune to grab prime commercial property.

Now, as many “devotees” throng the site, the situation looks tense and the men-in-khaki are posted to guard the area.