HC reiterates order on illegal buildings

The high court on Tuesday reiterated its order of November 25 on conducting a survey of illegal and unauthorised constructions in the city in a phased manner and submitting a schedule before December 18.

A division bench of Chief Justice Abhay S Oka and Pradeep Singh Yerur was hearing a suo motu public interest litigation petition on Monday and directed the BBMP to carry out a survey to identify buildings constructed without permission, constructions that have violated the plan, constructions that have deviated from the plan and unauthorised constructions in public places.

During the hearing, K N Puttegowda, advocate for the BBMP, filed a memorandum seeking clarification in light of the 2016 high court order which directed the regularisation of illegal constructions that had violated the sanctioned plan by less than five per cent.

Examining the BBMP’s memorandum, Chief Justice Oka said the earlier order pertained to constructions that violated the sanctioned plan by less than 5%. But he said the BBMP should conduct a fresh survey on illegal constructions as ordered by the court on November 25.

After the survey on the buildings, action should be taken under Section 321 of the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976, the court said.

How many buildings?

Nearly 5,000 illegal buildings that violated the original plan by less than 5% will be regularised according to the Regularisation Act, 2014, a BBMP source said.

The BBMP had earler submitted a report stating that 1.53 lakh buildings were identified as illegal in the city.