The State government suffered an embarrassment on Monday when the High Court of Karnataka set aside the allotment of two acres of land at Mylasandra near Turahalli reserve forest area in Bengaluru, for constructing a memorial for Kannada actor Vishnuvardhan.
Observing that the government would be “embarrassing” the late actor by allotting land against the law, the court asked the government to make available land at another place in view of the sentiments of the actor’s fans.
A Division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice B.V. Nagarathna passed the order while disposing of a PIL petition filed by environmental activist Sharath Babu and others.
The Bench agreed with the petitioners’ contention that allotment of the land, situated within 100 meters of reserved forest, would amount to violation of Rule 41(2) of the Karnataka Forests Rules, 1969, which states that no lands situated within 100 m of reserved forests shall be granted for occupancy. The Forest Department had raised its objections for allotment of this land for the memorial.
Though the government counsel tried to defend the allotment, the Bench pointed out that using the land for the memorial would amount to violation of the rules.
The land was allotted in March 2014 and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had laid the foundation stone for the memorial on December 30, 2014, and on the same day, the High Court had stayed the cutting of trees on the land for construction.
