Observing that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike is “not a people-friendly” organisation, the High Court of Karnataka on Monday found “unreasonable and stupid” some of the conditions imposed by the BBMP’s Town Planning Section (South) for grant of partial Occupancy Certificate (OC) to a 32-floor apartment complex in Hulimavu.
Justice S.N. Sathyanarayana made these observations during the hearing of petitions filed in 2015 by Sri Nakoda Constructions Ltd. complaining that the BBMP has not processed the applications filed by the company seeking OC. The court also observed orally that the issue of khata certificates and OC appears to have become “dirty business” in the BBMP.
Meanwhile, BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad submitted an affidavit to the court stating that “there have been no delays, except for the reasons beyond control, in the process of issuance of OCs” while submitting the particulars of applications seeking OCs that are pending before the Town Planning sections of various zones of the BBMP.
Though Mr. Prasad, who was personally present before the court, said that he had taken a number of steps to improve BBMP’s administration, the court orally told him that such steps do not appear to have reached the bottom of the administration.
Meanwhile, the court directed the BBMP’s Joint Director, Town Planning (South), to submit an affidavit explaining the rationale in imposing unreasonable conditions in the endorsement, dated April 5, 2019 asking the petitioner company to comply with eight conditions. During the hearing, BBMP’s counsel admitted that some of the conditions imposed in the endorsement are not correct.
The court also directed L.C Nagaraj, the then Assistant Commissioner (Bengaluru South), to explain under which law he had issued a communication on June 9, 2016 to the Stamps and Registration Department asking them not to register any of the flats in the apartment complex built by the petitioner company.