Karnataka high court quashes land acquisition for car parking facility

Bengaluru: Observing that the state govt could not have acquired land for a private entity, which is a profitable venture, the high court quashed acquisition of land by Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) in favour of Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers Association (IMTMA) at Madanayakanahalli, near Nelamangala, for construction of a multilevel car parking facility.A division bench of Justices DK Singh and TM Nadaf passed this order Wednesday while allowing the writ appeals filed by the landowners.IMTMA established Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC), near Nelamangala. After construction of two additional exhibition halls, it sought nearly 23.3 acres of land for construction of a multilevel car parking facility. Acting upon it, state govt, through KIADB, issued a preliminary notification on Aug 19, 2010, and a final notification on May 2, 2012. Ultimately, the acquisition was restricted to nearly 17.4 acres. The landowners challenged the same.