The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday stayed the State government’s notification of handing over Yelahanka Puttenahalli lake to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for maintenance as the lake is part of the Puttenahalli Lake Bird Conservation Reserve.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Nataraj Rangaswamy passed the interim order on a PIL petition filed by Yelahanka Puttenahalli Lake and Boards Conservation Trust and others.
Pointing out that the lake is part of the landscape notified as a conservation reserve under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, the bench said that the State government could not have issued an executive order of handing over the lake to the BBMP for maintenance.
The bench also directed the State government to properly reconstitute within three weeks the conservation reserve management committee for Puttenahalli Lake Bird Conservation Reserve as per provisions of the Wild Life (Protection) Act to advise the chief wild life warden to conserve, manage and maintain the conservation reserve.
The petitioners had questioned the legality of a November 2019 notification of the State government to hand over Yelahanka Puttenahalli lake to the BBMP and the subsequent tender notification issued by the civic body.
The court, during previous hearings, had restrained the BBMP from taking further step on the basis of the tender notification.
The Puttenahalli Lake Bird Conservation Reserve was notified in 2015.
Published - July 01, 2020 07:56 pm IST
