Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday ordered issue of notice to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and others on a petition filed by three property owners questioning the body’s power to ask other civic authorities to deny water, electricity and sewerage lines to a building constructed in deviation from the sanctioned plan.
Justice Raghavendra S. Chauhan passed the order on the petition filed by Nasser Aziz and two others who have carried out construction on their property in M.S. Palya, Jarakabandekaval, Yelahanka, coming under the Vidyaranyapura sub-division of the BBMP.
They claim that the neither the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act nor any other statute empower the BBMP from compelling other civic authorities to deny essential services.
The petitioners alleged that BBMP officials started troubling them during the construction on the pretext of violation of the sanctioned plan and issued an order, for demolishing illegal structures, without following procedure.
In March 2015, a civil court issued a temporary injunction restraining the BBMP from demolishing any portion of the building. In November 2015, the civic body wrote to the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) and the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) asking them not to provide water, electricity and drainage connections as the building was constructed in violation of the sanctioned plan.
The petitioners claimed that the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission had in 2015 passed an order making it clear that electricity supply companies cannot deny connection on the ground of violation of the sanctioned plan.
The petitioners have claimed that denial of essential requirements, like water and electricity supply, is a violation of the right to protection of life and personal liberty.
