The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday refused to relent on restrictions imposed on when construction and allied activities could be carried on in the areas beyond the Outer Ring Road (ORR).
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice B.V. Nagarathna refused to grant exemption as the Deputy Commissioner of Traffic told the court that residential areas are spread over six to seven kilometres beyond the ORR.
Permitted
However, the Bench permitted the builders to carry out 11 activities allied to construction work from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. while relaxing its September 6 order, which imposed a total ban between 6 p.m. and 8 a.m.
The permission to carry out 11 allied activities (see graphic) was granted after the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India’s (CREDAI), Bangalore, gave an undertaking to issue circular/code of ethics to its members and initiate several measures to educate them to adopt equipment that cause no or less noise.
Difficult for builders
One of the reason for the CREDAI to seek modification of ban was that the builders found it to difficult to carry out all the works between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. as there was restriction on movement of heavy vehicles and construction equipment on roads in the city from 7.30 and 11.30 a.m., and 4.30 p.m. to 8.30 pm.
The Bench made it clear that these restrictions would apply to not only CREDAI members but also any person engaged in construction activities.
The directions were issued during the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) petition, which challenged permission granted to construct of Sobha Dew Flowers, an apartment complex at Sarakki in J.P. Nagar here.
