Development Cost Bangalore Its Beauty: SC Expresses Concern About City's Degrading Environment [Read Judgment]

The city's environment is degraded so much and so fast that the time will not be far away for us to say "once upon a time Bangalore was a beautiful city", said a concerned Supreme Court today.

The Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Arun Mishra, Justice S. Abdul Nazeer and Justice MR Shah made these quite 'out of context' observations in a judgment disposing civil appeals in a Land Acquisition Matter.

Justice Nazeer, who penned the judgment, began by quoting Justice O. Chinnappa Reddy's observation about Bangalore's beauty in B.K. Srinivasan and Ors. v. State of Karnataka:

""It was a city with magic and charm, with elegant avenues, gorgeous flowers, lovely gardens and plentiful spaces. Not now. That was before the invasion of concrete and steel, of soot and smoke, of high rise and the fast buck. Gone are the flowers, gone are the trees, gone are the avenues, gone are the spaces……"

The judge then went on to observe:

"Indeed, Bangalore was a beautiful city. It had luscious gardens, beautiful lakes, well-laid roads, plenty of open spaces and wonderful weather throughout the year. It was one of the most beautiful cities in the country. It was rightly called the "Garden City" and a "Pensioner's Paradise".

But the judge expressed concern that the city is losing its beauty in the name of development. He further observed:

"These are things of the past. The city's environment is degraded so much and so fast that the time will not be far away for us to say "once upon a time Bangalore was a beautiful city." Traffic jams, over¬crowding, haphazard constructions, dying lakes, destruction of the flora, shrinking of lung spaces etc have become the order of the day. Its clear cool foggy air has turned into grey smoke and brown dust. All this has happened in the name of development. Of course, the development in today's time comes at a cost that the city of Bangalore has very dearly paid. What is lost has already been lost and no amount of work or effort can bring back the glorious garden days of Bangalore. The only thing that can be done and must be done is to at least wake up now, meticulously plan and develop the city in order to maintain whatever little is left of the old Bangalore city and develop the ever¬growing city on the broad lines of the glorious days of the past." 

While considering the appeal [Vinayak House Building Cooperative Society Ltd vs. State of Karnataka], the bench noted that, of late, the State Government has been de-notifying the lands acquired for public purpose for the benefit of the authorities like BDA or other urban development authorities and for the formation of private housing layouts, adversely affecting the planned development of the city of Bangalore and other cities in the State of Karnataka. It said:

"Experience has shown us that the lands are being denotified before taking possession or dropped from acquisition before the issuance of declaration by the government are mostly at the instance of land mafias in connivance with influential persons; political or otherwise. These lands are generally situated within the layouts in major cities and specially in Bangalore city. After de¬notification, multistoried complexes come up on these lands comprising of large number of residential and non-residential units. This has a direct impact on the existing infrastructure consisting of water supply, sewerage and lighting. Similarly, the traffic movement facility suffers unbearable burden and is often thrown out of gear because the original scheme/layout plan did not envisage construction of these complexes. The civic amenities provided in the original layout plan were in proportion to the development proposed in the scheme/plan. The purchasers of residential sites, who wish to have a roof over their heads, fall prey to the designs of unscrupulous land mafias. We may not hesitate to add that irreparable damage has already been done to many layouts in Bangalore and in other places by allowing construction of multi-storied buildings within the layouts. "

The bench then issued these directives:

• Henceforth, the planning/development authorities in the State of Karnataka, including the BDA shall not permit change of land use within the layout formed by the BDA or a private layout formed under Section 32 of the BDA Act or the layout formed by any other authority contrary to the scheme sanctioned by the State Government or the layout plan approved by the competent authority.
• The BDA or the other planning/development authorities shall not venture to alter the sanctioned scheme/approved layout plan in any manner. The BDA and the other planning/development authorities, Bruhat Bangalore City Municipal Corporation Bangalore, or any other authorities in the State of Karnataka authorized to sanction the plan for construction of the buildings shall not sanction any plan for construction contrary to the sanctioned scheme/approved layout plan. The sites reserved for parks, playgrounds or for providing other amenities shall be used strictly for the purpose for which they were reserved. Be it noted that violation of any of these directions by the authorities will be viewed strictly.
• If de-notified lands or the lands dropped from acquisition before the issuance of the declaration under the BDA Act or any other law are available within the BDA layout or the private layout approved by the BDA or the layout formed by any urban development authorities in the State of Karnataka, the said lands shall be utilized strictly in accordance with the land utilization proposed in the scheme/approved layout plan. Hence, building permission or the sanctioned plans to build on these lands shall not be issued by any authorities contrary to the land utilization proposed in the scheme/approved layout plan.

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