City Kemp News
The Supreme Court of India, in the Special Leave Petition filed by the Bangalore Development Authority against Hanumaiah and others, has issued an interim order in favour of the BDA and rejected the Interlocutory application filed by Hanumaiah and others pleading for a Status Quo order.
The land in question measuring 6.2 acres in all lies adjacent to the Mestripalya lake. In 2011, there was a denotification made by the then Government reverting the land to the original claimant, Mr Hanumaiah. This denotification was itself in violation of Supreme Court orders . When this was pointed out to the then Chief Minister’s office, the denotification was promptly cancelled. The effect of the cancellation of the denotification was to revert possession of the land to the BDA as directed by earlier orders of the Supreme Court.
Aggrieved by the cancellation of the denotification, Mr Hanumaiah and others approached the High Court of Karnataka. Although a Single Judge bench had ruled in favour of the BDA, Mr Hanumaiah had preferred an appeal before the Division bench of the High Court. The Division bench headed by Justice KL Manjunath in its verdict set aside the cancellation of the denotification on the grounds that Mr Hanumaiah had not been given adequate opportunities to represent his case. The Urban Development Department was asked to re-adjudicate the case afresh.
Aggrieved by this verdict the BDA approached the Supreme Court. In the very first hearing itself, the Court stayed the Division bench orders of the High Court, thereby transferring possession to the BDA.
In November 2016, BDA handed over possession of the land to the BBMP which has now started development of a tree park and other facilities in the area.
Aggrieved by this, Mr Hanumaiah and others moved an Interlocutory application pleading for the BDA to be denied Leave to appeal and for a status quo order to be passed by the Court restraining BBMP from taking up work.
When the case came up for hearing on 13th February, the Court denied the applications of Mr Hanumaiah et al and ruled in favour of the BDA. Leave was granted and the Court dismissed the petition by Mr Hanumaiah to grant a status quo order. BBMP is thus free to take up work already commenced and complete it.
Status quo orders are normally refused if the Court comes to a conclusion based on available evidence before it that prima facie the weight of the evidence is against the party requesting the stay. It would therefore appear that the BDA and BBMP are on a strong wicket in this case and the Citizens’ dream of a vital lung space in Koramangala is going to come true shortly.
Work in the area is being taken up by the BBMP thanks to the strong support of area MLA and Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy. Citizens are hopeful that the facility would be ready and inaugurated by the end of April 2017.
