A NEWS REPORT
Illegal BDA layout behind kamakya, bsk IIIstage.
IGNORANCE OF LAW IS NO EXCUSE.
REGISTRATION OF PROPERTIES, PAYMENT OF TAXES, BESCOM CONNECTION AND BWSSB CONNECTION DOES NOT CONFER ANY RIGHT, TITLE AND INTEREST.
SANCTION OF BANK LOANS DOES NOT CONFER THE TITLES
A NEWS REPORT
Civic body claims ‘illegal layout’ behind Kamakya Cinema was formed on 5.3 acres of its property
The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has served notices on 152 constructions, mostly residential houses, in Banashankari III Stage, claiming that these have been built illegally on 5.3 acres of its property. The notices are dated November 16, 2015 and when some of the residents protested, authorities took the help of police and photographed and videotaped the serving of notices. The ‘illegal layout’ is the area behind the Kamakya Theatre off the Ring Road.
What has irked the residents is that many of their homes here are decades old. The BDA notice says the constructions are illegally done on survey numbers 77/1 and 77/2 in Kathriguppe village, Uttarahalli Hobli, Bengaluru south taluk. It states that these lands were acquired by the BDA through the notification of September 10, 1979, and a final notification on April 30, 1981. “These are properties of the BDA. It is noticed that you have put up illegal/unauthorised constructions and are residing there. You are informed to provide any documents about the property if you have any within seven days, else action as per BDA rules will be initiated against you,” the notice read. The current land value of the 5.3 acres is estimated at Rs 300 crore. The alleged unauthorised constructions are largely individual houses, a few multi-storied buildings and a Mahalakshmi temple. The residents include many government servants.
A local resident, who has been served the notice, said, “Most homes were constructed here with bank loans. In many cases, the loans have also been cleared. That is how old the houses here are. Some people started talking about this being an illegal layout six months ago. Some of the residents sold the properties and vanished. Some houses have changed hands many times over. I do not understand how BDA decided that it is its property now. No-objection certificates have been issued and in an old case, the BDA had claimed that this was a private layout. All around are BDA layouts and in adjoining sites, this is mentioned as a private layout in site schedules.”
Assistant executive engineer, BDA, Prashanth, speaking to Mirror, said, “Yes, the notices were issued. The issue arose some five years ago when complaints were filed against BDA for failing to secure its land. This layout is 30 years old but the BDA officials who are in office today have to follow rules. This is just the initial notice.”
THE INVERTED CASE OF ENCROACHMENTS
The last two years have witnessed many civic agencies including the BDA on an overdrive to clear encroachments of their properties. It was the district administration and revenue department that was on an encroachment clearance drive in the last two years. Properties worth hundreds of crores of rupees were recovered after encroachments were cleared from Sarakki, Allalasandra and Banaswadi lake beds. In some of these cases, the BDA was the culprit, having developed and distributed sites on land it did not own! In Banaswadi, the district administration found encroachment by none other than the BDA. It is now the turn of BDA which is trying to locate its own properties which it had forgotten after having acquired them decades ago. Sources say that the drive in Banashankari came only after private complaints to the Lokayukta that BDA officials had forgotten to protect public property. This is not the only case of BDA forgetting its properties. Earlier this year the BDA sought the help of CID to recover 2.5 acres of land in Banashankari II Stage which it acquired in 1971 and forgot about and which was allegedly sold multiple times using forged documents by private parties
JACKPOT KRISHNAPPA
The 152 houses are situated in what is called “Banashankari III Stage, V Block”. The original name of the ‘private layout’ was Krishnaiah Layout. The government’s guidance value is Rs 6,500 per sq ft while the market rate is twice this rate. Old timers trace the problem to the original land owners of the village. “No one knows what has happened 30-40 years ago. But it is said that after the BDA acquired the land, some of the land owners illegally sold the land to a third party. This person is said to be one ‘Jackpot Krishnappa’ because he had won some lottery or horse race. That person made a layout and somehow managed to keep the BDA authorities at bay. The people who purchased the sites constructed homes blissfully unaware of this background. Many properties changed hands subsequently,” said a resident.
There are many survey numbers in uttarahally hobli, bangalore south thaluk, which are acquired long back and the present occupiers bought it on the fake katha and sale deed will face the same fate.