Declining to accept that there are only 980 illegal constructions in a large city like Bengaluru, the High Court of Karnataka on Monday said that the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) should conduct a methodical survey in a phased manner to identify buildings built without sanctioned plans and those built with substantial deviations from the approved plans.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Pradeep Singh Yerur, who, hearing a PIL initiated suo motu by the court on the issue of illegal constructions in the city, has directed the BBMP to submit by December 18 the time schedule for conduct of survey and the method to be adopted.
The Bench said that it was not possible to accept the claim of the BBMP that there are 980 illegal constructions as this figure was not compiled through any methodical survey but from routine inspection of ward level officials at the time of inspecting works of street sweeping and garbage collection.
The Bench also directed the BBMP to submit the number of complaints on illegal constructions received from the public in the months of October and November while hoping that the BBMP and its officers will not treat the proceedings as adversary litigation as it is the statutory obligation of the civic body to act against illegal structures.
If BBMP wants additional manpower for conducting the survey, issuing notices in connection with illegal constructions and to carry out demolition works, including need of creation of post of experts likes structural engineer to carry out demolitions, it should send a proposal to the government, the Bench said while directing the government to act within two months about such proposals. The government can also provide adequate staff to BBMP from its own cadre on temporary basis, the Bench said.
The Bench also made it clear that the BBMP can approach the government for police assistance to carry out the survey, service of notice to owners of illegal structures and to demolish illegal structures, and the government should provide required police assistance.
