HC fiat ignored key issues’

HC fiat ignored key issues’
Green activist Leo Saldanha says the high court verdict on war memorial sidestepped the issue of diverting park land for non-park purpose
BANGALORE MIRROR BUREAU


Leo Saldanha, a vociferous champion for green cover in Bangalore for years, on Tuesday said the high court verdict on the National Military Memorial is “bad in law because it does not make a distinction between what is legally wrong and the social questions involved”.
The high court recently dismissed a PIL against the proposed construction of the memorial at the Indira Gandhi Musical Park.
Saldanha said the high court justifies the need for a war memorial based on its social and emotive purpose, reducing the question of law involved in the PIL to merely that of four trees that would be felled and access issues of local communities.
Saldanha, coordinator of Environment Support Group, said, “It (HC fiat) fails to address the more serious issue of diversion of park land for non-park purpose in violation of statutory procedures. It is clear from many judgements that diversion of park land to any other purpose must be done in strict conformance with the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act and the Karnataka Parks Act.”
“The court has merely satisfied itself with the social purpose without comprehensively addressing and settling the legal questions involved in diverting park land to a non-park purpose,” he added.