As many as 2,000 traders from K.R. Market, Kalasipalya and Jayanagar and others are planning to go to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) head office on Thursday to meet Commissioner B.H. Anil Kumar and Mayor M. Goutham Kumar. The decision was taken after several traders in KR Market received eviction notices from the BBMP on Monday. The traders’ association resisted, following which the officials stopped handing out the notices.
On Tuesday, it was the turn of traders at the vegetable market in Kalasipalya. Here too, the BBMP officials faced resistance.
The notices, a copy of which is with The Hindu , are all dated November 4, 2019, and state that the traders have 15 days (from the time the notice is received) to vacate the shops. If they fail to do so, the BBMP will take possession of the premises.
A senior BBMP official confirmed that the civic body is issuing notices in all markets, but refused to comment further on the issue.
This move comes close on the heels of the Karnataka High Court restraining the BBMP from allotting any more shops in the K.R. Market complex. The court, on October 31, while hearing a PIL petition filed in 2017 on illegalities at the market, had sought information from the civic body about the action initiated against shopkeepers operating illegally in the complex, besides directing it to rectify the lapses in fire safety measures in a time-bound manner. The court asked the BBMP to furnish details of number of shops given on lease and those whose lease has expired, copy of the approved building plan, among other things.
R.V. Gopi, president of Kalasipalya Vegetable Market Traders’ Association, said for nearly three generations, the traders have been doing business at the market. “We know nothing apart from the trade. Thousands of families are dependant on the markets,” he said.
G.M. Divakar, president of K.R. Market Flower Merchants’ Association, claimed that the notices have been issued based on a 2014 order of the Karnataka High Court on a writ petition on shops erected in passages earmarked for civic amenities. In that order, the High Court had noted that allotment of shops cannot be claimed as a hereditary right. Instead, the corporation should issue a fresh notification for allotment after the expiry of licence where the license is granted for more than five years.
“However, the order also states that the BBMP should comply with the same within three months. The BBMP slept on it for all these years. Are the notices being issued now that the High Court has taken note of the BBMP allowing illegal structures within the market?” he asked.
The traders of the BBMP-owned markets are now planning to meet the Commissioner and Mayor on Thursday. “We will decide on the next course of action based on the outcome of our meeting,” said Mr. Divakar.
