A Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court on Wednesday stayed a single judge ruling, which had quashed the partial occupancy certificate (PoC) granted by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for the two towers of the IBC Knowledge Park on Bannerghatta Main Road.
A Division Bench comprising Justice K.L. Manjunath and Justice A.V. Chandrashekara passed the interim order while admitting the appeal filed by IBC (India Builder Corporation) Knowledge Park Pvt. Ltd.
The single judge ruling in October this year had declared that the PoC granted on October 29, 2011, to Towers ‘C’ and ‘D’ of the Knowledge Park was illegal and beyond the scope of the provisions of the BBMP Building Bye-Laws 2003.
The park was constructed by the builder through a joint development agreement with the landowner, Bangalore Housing Development and Investments, on its 53,974.81 sq. metres (nearly 14 acres) of land and the single judge had passed the order on a petition filed by landowner.
The appellant has contended that Rs. 85 lakh has already been paid to the BBMP as fee for compounding deviations from the building bye-laws while questioning cancellation of PoC by the BBMP.
While ruling that IBC Knowledge Park Pvt. Ltd. had illegally allowed many firms to occupy the building on rent prior to issuance of the PoC, the single judge bench had also held that the builder was not entitled to retain the rent collected from these firms, and directed the BBMP Commissioner to take steps as per law against the builder and to evict tenants.
