HC Directs GBA To Compensate Hoskerehalli Landowners After 14 Years
The Karnataka High Court has directed the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) to issue Transferable Development Rights (TDR) certificates within three months to landowners in Hoskerehalli village, Uttarahalli hobli, Bengaluru South taluk, whose properties were taken for road construction 14 years ago. Justice M Nagaprasanna issued the order after strongly reprimanding the civic agency, formerly known as the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), for failing to compensate the affected residents.
The court's decision came during a hearing on a petition filed by landowners who surrendered nearly two acres of land. The state government had notified the property for acquisition on January 6, 2012, to facilitate road development. Following this, the petitioners executed relinquishment deeds on April 3, 2012, handing the land over to the BBMP.
Justice Nagaprasanna expressed strong displeasure over the 14-year delay in granting compensation. He observed that a citizen had been stripped of their land and left waiting for over a decade without receiving either compensation or the promised TDR, despite the acquisition notification explicitly promising TDR upon execution of the relinquishment deeds.
The petitioners argued they were entitled to TDR equivalent to 1.5 times the extent of the land they surrendered. They stated that the relinquishment deeds were legally binding as they were signed by the BBMP's additional commissioner on behalf of the commissioner.
The BBMP opposed the petition, claiming the land was never formally acquired. The civic body alleged that some of its officials had colluded with the landowners to create TDR. It argued that the relinquishment deeds were executed in error and should not be acted upon.
The court rejected the BBMP's defense, calling the argument "preposterous." Justice Nagaprasanna pointed out that the relinquishment deeds were registered documents signed by the BBMP’s authorized officer, and the civic body had never sought to cancel them.
The judge also questioned the BBMP's claims of fraud, pointing out that the agency had failed to take genuine action against the senior officials involved. The court noted that merely suspending an executive engineer without further action was an "eye-wash."
Ruling that ordinary citizens cannot be made to suffer for the alleged lapses of civic officials, the court allowed the petition and ordered the GBA to resolve the dues by issuing the TDR certificates within the three-month deadline.
