A 93-year-old freedom fighter was given a reprieve on Thursday as the High Court of Karnataka directed the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) to restore a site allotted to him at Shantaveri Gopalagowda layout in Mysore city. Justice L. Narayana Swamy passed the order, while allowing a petition filed by T.S. Janardhan, a resident of V.V. Mohalla.
The petitioner had questioned MUDA’s July 15, 2013 order of cancelling a 40ftx60ft site, which was allotted to him, for the reason that he had withdrawn the initial deposit of Rs. 20,700 paid to the authority.
MUDA, in 2005, had invited applications for site allotment from people belonging to special categories. The petitioner, being a freedom fighter, applied for the site by paying an initial deposit of Rs. 20,700.
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However, in September 2008, he withdrew the initial deposit citing personal reasons. In 2012, the MUDA wrote a letter to the petitioner stating that it would hand over the site allotment letter to him in a ceremony that was to be held on August 6, 2013. It had also asked him to pay Rs. 1,86,200 towards allotment within 90 days.
However, MUDA wrote another letter to the petitioner on July 15, 2013 stating it had cancelled the allotment as he had withdrawn the initial deposit, contrary to the allotment rules.