Govt refutes BSY's submission in HC on land denotification

Bengaluru, Sept 15: The Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) on Thursday refuted a submission made before the High Court of Karnataka that the Siddaramaiah government had denotified 1,300 acres in K Shivaram Karanth Layout.

In a submission before the court on Wednesday, senior counsel C V Nagesh representing former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa had stated that a total of 1,300 acres, of the 3,546 acres notified for acquisition for the Shivaram Karanth layout project, was dropped from being acquired on the direction of the present government during April 2014. A press release from the CMO stated that the charges that the government had denotified 1,300 acres is “false, baseless and devoid of any evidence or record.”

The release stated that 3,546 acres were notified in 2008 for the formation of the layout. The previous government (BJP regime) between 2008 and 2010 gave directions to the BDA to exclude 257.2 acres from the proposed acquisition.

“Further, the land acquisition officers of the BDA during 2012-2014 excluded 446.07 acres from acquisition on the basis of parameters given by Supreme Court in the case of Arkavathi Layout,” the statement said.

The high court in its order dated September 2, 2015 stated that the entire project had become infructuous as there was a delay of more than five years in completing the acquisition process. “The BDA has issued endorsements to the land owners informing them of the high court order stating that the entire land acquisition has lapsed. These endorsements are issued at the level of the BDA and government has no role in this,” the statement said.