The Supreme Court’s judgment on Tuesday, authored by Justice Nazeer, comes as a relief for not only builders but all those whose buildings had come within the revised buffer zone limits prescribed by the NGT in 2016.
The State government had argued in favour of the statutory mandate of the RMP-2015 and said the NGT judgment had worked to overwhelm it.
It had contended that the Tribunal decision violated the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Act, Planning Act, Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976.
The Supreme Court judgment, however, rejected the appeals filed by Mantri Techzone Pvt. Ltd. and Core Mind Software and Services Pvt. Ltd. against the tribunal’s conclusions that their constructions were illegal and encroached upon water odies in Bengaluru.
“There is a definite possibility of environment, ecology, lakes, and wetland being adversely affected by these projects,” Justice Nazeer wrote about the levelling of ecologically fragile land between Bellandur and Agara lakes to host techno parks, hotels and parking lots for over 14,000 vehicles.
The NGT had ordered the demolition of “all the offending constructions” raised by the companies, including any kind of boundary walls.
