The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday directed the authorities to stop issuing permission forthwith for mixed land use (including commercial) as per the Revised Master Plan (RMP) 2015 for Bangalore city in areas that were classified as ‘residential zones' in the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) 1995.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice B.V. Nagarathna passed the interim order while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by Citizens' Action Forum (CAF) in 2008 challenging the RMP 2015.
“We direct that in the following areas of the city — Malleshwaram, Richmond Town, Vasanthnagar, Jayanagar, Vijayanagar, V.V. Puram, Rajajinagar, R.T Nagar, etc., — wherein purely residential use was permitted as per the CDP, no further permission shall be granted for redevelopment or reconstruction, except for residential use,” the Bench said.
“This order shall not be construed in any manner as conveying the approval of the court for other uses,” the Bench said, adding that it would pass orders on the next date of hearing (February 3) on permission already granted for non-residential uses in residential areas as per the RMP 2015.
The CAF, in its application before the court in July last year, pointed out that granting permission to use residential buildings for commercial purposes as per “mixed residential area classification” of the RMP 2015 must be stopped immediately because the State Government itself had “doubts on the credibility and implementation of the RMP 2015”.
The application said that the Government had appointed a committee headed by the former Chief Secretary A. Ravindra in December 2009 to scrutinise the negative aspects of zoning regulations with specific reference to the impact of the RMP 2015 on residential areas.
Modifications
Pointing out that the Ravindra Committee, in its recommendations, had discussed modification of the RMP, the CAF had claimed that zonal regulation, if not stayed, would have an adverse impact on residential areas since the authorities were permitting commercial activities as per the RMP, which came into force in mid-2007.
The Bench took note of an observation in the Ravindra Committee report, which states, “Change of land use has been curtailed for small properties on small roads. The notion of ancillary use of a property has also been done away with. These two provisions have caused much pain to communities by mixing commercial development in what should be residential areas only.”
