The High Court of Karnataka has directed the Karnataka Appellate Tribunal to endeavour to dispose of within nine months to one year the cases filed questioning the orders passed by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahangara Palike (BBMP) for demolition of illegal structures.
“The tribunal to endeavour expeditious disposal of the cases filed before it, particularly, concerning issuance of notice under Section 321 of the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (KMC) Act, 1976, or under Section 248 of the BBMP Act, 2020, at any rate, within nine months to one year of filing of such cases,” the court said.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order while observing that the court had come across the proceedings that were pending adjudication before the tribunal for five to seven years in many cases.
“If an illegal construction is brought up on the precincts of the BBMP and notices are issued against such illegal constructions, the tribunal ought to decide such cases as expeditiously as possible, as the purpose for which the notices are issued would be lost by sheer lapse of time,” the court observed.
The court also directed the tribunal not to unnecessarily dismiss the applications filed by the complainants if the proceedings before the tribunal are a result of complaint registered by such complainants, and not drive every complainant to this court seeking such impleadment.
“The tribunal on certain specious plea declines to permit the complainant to come on record which has led to mushrooming of writ petitions being filed before this court,” it pointed out.
The court issued the direction on a petition filed by one Shivaprasad Navada, a resident of Koramangala 9th main, 3rd block in the city. The petitioner had questioned the tribunal’s order of rejecting his plea to implead in the proceedings in which persons, who had put up alleged illegal constructions had questioned the notice issued by the BBMP in 2017 under the KMC Act.
