The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday refused to give urgent hearing to a petition filed by some persons, who were living in the temporary sheds on the land at Ejipura after the quarters built for people belonging to economically weaker sections (EWS) were demolished many years ago.
Counsel for the petitioners requested a Division Bench, comprising acting Chief Justice K. Sreedhar Rao and Justice S. Abdul Nazeer, to consider for hearing the petition filed last year on an urgent basis as the occupants of sheds were being evicted by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) without making alternative arrangements for their stay.
However, the Bench orally told counsel that “if it is the case of allottees of EWS quarters then it would have considered the plea for urgent hearing but it can’t be responsive to encroachers” when counsel admitted that petitioners were not authorised allottees of EWS quarters.
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Counsel pointed out that only 200 of the about 1,500 persons were living in the temporary sheds and the BBMP had passed a resolution to allot quarters, to be built under joint venture between BBMP and a private firm on the land, either to the original allottees or the occupants of quarters. Counsel claimed that another Division Bench, which had passed the order for evicting the occupants to enable construction of new quarters, had not considered the BBMP’s resolution.