The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday directed that a public notice be published in two vernacular newspapers with information about the status of a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by persons claiming to be occupants of the economically weaker sections (EWS) quarters at Ejipura.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice D.H. Waghela and Justice B.V. Nagarathna passed the order while hearing the petition filed by Shantha Mary and 139 others.
The petitioners sought flats in the new apartment complex being built by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for 1,512 persons to whom allotments were made in the old quarters, which were razed owing to poor quality of construction.
The court, in an earlier verdict on a PIL petition filed by original allottees, had allowed the BBMP to construct new flats under a public-private partnership — now with Maverick Holdings and Investments Pvt. Ltd. — and allot them to the 1,512 persons. As the petitioners in the present petition were unable to serve court notice to petitioners in the earlier proceedings, the court asked their counsel to issue a public notice in Tamil and Kannada newspapers.
The Bench also said it was not inclined to stay the project.
Further hearing has been adjourned till July 29.
Layout tender
The State government on Wednesday told the High Court that the Chief Minister would take a final decision on the future of tenders invited by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) for constructing roads at Nadaprabhu Kempe Gowda Layout, within a week.
A counsel for the government made a submission in this regard during the hearing of a PIL petition, in which it was claimed that the BDA had invited tenders for building roads even though the land acquisition process had not been completed. It was also alleged that cost of the project rose to Rs. 2,200 crore after negotiations with the bidding firms, though the initial estimate was around Rs. 991 crore.
