B S MUDDAPPA Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition is presented by 30 residents of Rajamahal Vilas Extension, City of Bangalore, questioning the legality of the grant of a civic amenity site in the said extension in favour of the fourth respondent - the Bangalore Medical Trust.

(2.) The facts of the case, in brief, are as follow: The City Improvement Trust Board ('the CITE' for short) which had been constituted under the provisions of the City of Bangalore Improvement Act, 1945, had prepared a development scheme for bringing into existence an extension of the City of Bangalore which came to be known as the palace Upper Orchards Sadashivangar, later came to be named as Rajamahal Vilas Extension. The petitioners are all persons to whom the sites were allotted by the CITB and on which they have constructed their residential houses. In the said extension, an area facing the sankey Tank was earmarked for being developed as a low level park. By resolution dated 14-7-1976 the said site was allotted in favour of the fourth respondent - Trust for construction of a nursing home and hospital. Questioning the legality of the said allotment, the petitioners have presented this petition.

(3.) The plea of the petitioners in support of the challenge to the legality of the allotment is as follows: In the scheme prepared under the City of Bangalore Improvement Act 1945, the site allotted to the fourth respondent was earmarked for a park. After the formation of the streets in the manner provided in the plan of the scheme sanctioned by the Government, a notification dated 3-1-1973 was issued by the State Government under Section 23 of the said Act. Consequent on the said notification, the entire extension came under the control of the Corporation of the City of Bangalore ('the Corporation' for short), and the Corporation has been levying tax on the house properties. In view of the said notification and the provisions of sub-section (2) of Section 23 of the said Act, all open spaces including the park area in question stood transferred to the Corporation and thereafter to the Bangalore Development Authority ('the BDA' for short) which is the successor authority to the CITB under the Bangalore Development Authority act, 1976, which came into force with effect from 20-12-1975. The BDA has no powers at all to dispose of the land in question. Even on the basis the ownership of the land continued to be vested in the BDA, it could not dispose of the site in the manner it has done when it was specifically earmarked for developing it as a park.