The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday observed that it is not proper or feasible to demolish buildings built by people who invested their hard-earned money only on the ground that they were built in violation of the bylaws. The court said the laws for regularising certain types of unauthorised developments and constructions were amended based on the needs of the people and they are not unconstitutional.
The demolition of buildings for violation of the building bylaws would create disastrous consequences as the number of such buildings is in lakhs and if all of them are ordered to be demolished, then it would not only be a national waste but would also render many homeless, said a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice Budihal R.B.
If the contention of petitioners that the buildings are to be demolished for violation of building bylaws is considered, the Bench said, again it would be the responsibility of the the State to look into the problems of such persons who would be deprived of their properties, and the government is not in a position to provide alternative sites.
After conducting a survey, the Commissioner of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike submitted a report to the State indicating that roughly about 1,53,419 buildings/sites are unauthorised in the city, the Bench noted.
On perusing the materials placed on record, the Bench said, the government had taken all care and precaution to not regularise certain types of unauthorised development and constructions while imposing reasonable restrictions, including levy of fee, for regularisation.
Relying on a decision of the Supreme Court, which had upheld a similar scheme introduced in Tamil Nadu as a “one-time” measure for regularising certain class of unauthorised constructions a few years ago, the Bench said the problem of unregulated growth in urban area is not peculiar only to Mangaluru or Bengaluru cities but to every State.
The Bench also rejected the contention of the petitioners that laws of regularisation were in violation of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.
