The Karnataka High Court on Friday directed the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) to give 31,613 sq.ft. of developed land in Banashankari VI Stage Layout, or any other nearby layout, by way of recompense for illegally utilising 63,162 sq.ft. of land belonging to a petitioner since 2002 without acquiring the land as per the law.
Also, the court directed the BDA to pay a compensation of ₹1 lakh per each year (from 2002 onwards) for unauthorised deprivation of his land and deferment of assured recompense for all 17 years.
Justice Krishna S Dixit passed the order while allowing a petition filed by P G Belliappa, a resident of Bengaluru. The BDA had utilised his land for public purposes, like roads and parks.
“The BDA Act provides for acquisition of private property. Without resorting to the acquisition process as provided under the said Act, the BDA has misappropriated the property of the petitioner, although such act does not fall within the Macaulayin idea of ‘theft’ or ‘robbery’ merely because the subject involved is immovable. But at least it is a criminal trespass, if not anything more,” the court observed in its order.
‘Act against officials’
While directing the BDA to recover the compensation amount from the erring officials of the BDA who are responsible for the unauthorised utilisation of the land and for inordinately delaying / deferring the grant of recompense as promised to the petitioner way back in 2002, the court also directed the BDA to make an adverse entry in the service registers of erring officials after giving them a hearing .
The court did not accept the BDA’s offer of giving him only 17,296 sq.ft. as per a 2018 resolution while pointing out that the BDA can’t go back from its 2002 resolution of giving developed land equivalent to 50% of the area of the land it had used.
