Bengaluru: Karnataka high court has directed Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) to strictly adhere to the guidelines and circular produced along with the affidavit filed by its commissioner in all cases related to the agency.Any deviation from the circular and guidelines should be viewed seriously and appropriate action should be taken against the officers responsible for it, a division bench of Justices DK Singh and TM Nadaf cautioned in its detailed order passed on Sept 24.In the case on hand, BDA had challenged an order passed by a single bench on March 7, 2024, allowing petitions filed by landowners from Gubbalala village. According to BDA, the lands were acquired for formation of a connecting road from Kanakapura to Banashankari and extension of Banashankari VI Stage Layout and that the scheme itself has been substantially implemented, which has been upheld by a division bench of the high court as well.On the other hand, the landowners had argued that since the adjacent lands had been left out from acquisition, they were also entitled to similar relief. They added that BDA cannot form a layout in small pockets of land. They claimed that BDA itself had withdrawn a writ appeal arising out of a similar order passed by a single bench.After noticing the same, the division bench sought a specific response from the BDA commissioner as to whether the withdrawal was at the behest of the commissioner or it was on the basis of a BDA board resolution.The court was then told that the instructions to withdraw the writ appeal were given by the then commissioner, BDA, N Jayaram. Though Jayaram submitted an explanation, the court was not satisfied.The division bench directed current BDA commissioner P Manivannan to submit an affidavit to address the systematic failure so that in future, the cases are conducted as per the procedure evolved by BDA. On July 28, the affidavit was filed explaining that an office memorandum/circular was issued on July 27 to ensure effective conduct of litigation.The circular mandates that all legal notices, petitions, applications, summons, court orders, judgments, contempt notices and all other legal communications should be forwarded to the chief legal officer on the same day or the next day. Zonal commissioners/officers have been entrusted with the compliance of the approved legal proceedings. All litigation records are required to be digitised. In addition, to decide on filing of appeals, a committee headed by the BDA commissioner will consider the issue. It comprises an advocate or additional advocate general appointed by him, the chief legal officer, a representative of a law organisation and the zonal commissioner and department heads concerned as members, the affidavit stated.BDA Acquisition UpheldThe division bench, after perusing the orders passed by co-ordinate benches on land acquisition for the same project, set aside the order passed by the single bench, pointing out that the project is substantially implemented.
