Karnataka high court orders demolition of illegal building, recovery of costs from BBMP officials

Bengaluru: In a strong move against civic apathy and unauthorised construction, the high court ordered the demolition of an illegal building at JP Nagar 5th Phase and directed that the costs be recovered from BBMP officials who failed to prevent the violation.

The case centres around a residential building at Nanjundeshwara Layout, which local residents alleged was coming up without an approved building plan. Complaints were raised in Feb 2020, and during a site inspection, a BBMP joint commissioner confirmed the structure had no sanctioned plan. He assured the residents that the building would be demolished. But action never came.

Instead, the builder allegedly colluded with BBMP engineers to procure a backdated plan. "They issued a 2021 plan and backdated it to 2020 to show as if it had been obtained before the construction. But the document was forged. The Anti-Corruption Bureau confirmed this during its inquiry," said a resident who closely followed the case.

Despite a Karnataka Appellate Tribunal ruling in favour of its demolition, BBMP remained inactive. The builder then moved the high court with the same forged documents. However, the court wasn't convinced. The involvement of BBMP officials came to light after the case was escalated in court by the building owner himself.

Justice Sanjay Gowda, in his April 26 order, pulled no punches. He pointed out that the building plan was approved on March 6, 2021, while the spot inspection by the joint commissioner had occurred earlier, on Feb 28, 2021. The assistant director of town planning (ADTP) not only approved the plan but also issued a building licence on March 24, 2021.

"The fact that the engineer was able to provide the licence plan number and the date itself indicates the nature of collusion between the applicant and the engineers concerned," the court noted.

The building had massive deviations from the sanctioned norms. "As could be seen from the above, in respect of setback, there are deviations ranging from 20% to 95%. In respect of coverage, there is a deviation of 48.1%, in respect of built-up area, there is a deviation of 73.2% and in respect of FAR, there is a deviation of 73%. The report also points out that there is a violation of the sanctioned height by about 2.2 metres and there is an extra floor constructed. The report also indicates that there is a deviation to the extent of 48.1% in respect of all floors put up and this would therefore fundamentally indicate that there is a gross violation from the sanctioned plan which in fact was cancelled," the court said.

Citing Section 321-B of the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, the court clarified that if BBMP officers fail to stop illegal construction, they can be penalised. The more violations they overlook, the heavier the penalties.

The court has now directed BBMP to take strict action. This includes holding an inquiry into officials, including retired ones who were involved in sanctioning the post-demolition plan. The court said BBMP should also recover the cost of demolition from these officials.

"BBMP would also have to take action against the ADTP who sanctioned the plan after the order of confirmation was passed on March 19, 2021," the court noted.

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A wake up call, says neighbour

VV Madhusudana Rao, the neighbour who complained about the violation to BBMP told TOI, "This is purely a residential society and how can we have a building built in violation (of rules)? There were a lot of twists and turns in the case with the petitioner complaining to BBMP that even my building is in violation... The HC in fact noted that the petitioner has wasted BBMP's and the court's time with false complaints. Such verdicts should be a wake up call for people building multiple floors and officials approving the plans and turning a blind eye to such violations."