Don’t come to us for everything: KARNATAKA HIGH COURT

Source:- bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com

The Karnataka High Court has come down on petitions that bring civic disputes before it, saying they are eating into precious time of the courts.

Petitions seeking directions to civic authorities like BDA or BBMP should not be brought before the HC at the first instance, the court said, pointing out that there are statutory mechanisms to address the issues.

The White Meadows Residents and Site Owners Association, Kengeri Satellite Town, had approached the HC with a petition against the BBMP and Sri Krishna Constructions (India) Ltd. They alleged that the company had violated the sanctioned plan and building by-laws and was also encroaching on areas reserved for civic amenities. The association sought the HC’s directive to BBMP to take action against the construction company.

However, the HC said that whatever is mentioned in the petition cannot be accepted as the gospel truth to initiate enquiries.

Dr Justice Vineet Kothari in his judgment quoted from the V Damodaran Vs BBMP case, saying “Firstly, the petitioner-complainant who are before this court ought to have brought such violations to the notice of the concerned public bodies themselves and if they have done so, it could be only expected of the public bodies to take action according to law and pass appropriate reasoned orders on such representations/complaints.”

If the complainants are aggrieved by the decision of the civic bodies they can then approach the tribunals established for the purpose, the court said.

Therefore the complainants cannot approach the HC with a writ petition. The HC noted that it was flooded with such cases.

Dismissing the petition as not maintainable, the court made it clear that the civic bodies themselves should decide on the complaints.

“The merits or otherwise of the present case deserves to be decided by the lower forums or the authorities of the public bodies like BBMP and BDA itself or the town planning authority concerned,” the court said.