Income Tax Layout Residents Vs Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (Karnataka High Court)
The Karnataka High Court allowed a writ petition filed by the Income Tax Layout Residents seeking removal of encroachments on the road margin and civic amenity site and dismissed a connected writ petition challenging the survey sketch prepared by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), now the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA). The survey had been conducted pursuant to an earlier High Court order and found that certain respondents had encroached upon the road margin and part of the civic amenity site. The petitioner in the second writ petition sought to set aside the survey on the ground that no proper opportunity of hearing had been provided during the survey process.
The Court noted that the alleged encroached land formed part of 12 guntas of land that had been the subject matter of earlier civil proceedings, including a suit for declaration, a first appeal, and a Special Leave Petition. All those proceedings had been decided against the petitioner claiming ownership, thereby negating any right, title, or interest over the land.
The petitioner relied on dismissal of two civil suits filed by individual residents. However, the Court observed that those suits were dismissed because the plaintiffs failed to adduce evidence or argue their cases and therefore did not establish any rights over the property. The Court also noted that the land was treated by the BBMP/GBA as part of the road margin and civic amenity site and that the authority maintained the property as public land.
