Ramamurthynagar residents’ fight in vain, public land to vanish soon

Bengaluru: Like love’s labour lost, the efforts of the members of the Ramamurthynagar Residents’ Welfare Association (RWA) to save a huge piece of prime land at Ramamurthynagar have been fruitless. The land is on the verge of being lost due to the apathy of the government officials.
Since the officials concerned did not appear before the court to fight for the protected and fenced land, the session court has passed an ex-parte order in favour of the petitioner Mamata Nagaraj.

The President of the association A. V. Shama Rao said that the land situated on survey number 95/3 of Kowdenahalli in KR Puram, measuring one-and-a-half acres, was encroached upon by alleged land sharks who wanted to form sites and then dispose of them. After the legal battle it was retained and the BBMP fenced it for the purpose of constructing a government school and college or a public health centre.

The RWA is lodging a complaint before the Lokayukta to save this precious public property. Officials like the Revenue Commissioner, the Special Deputy Commissioner (Bengaluru Urban) and the Tahasildar of KR Puram stayed away from the court proceedings for four long years. This has led to the losing of the case due to the ex-parte order. On November 9, 2010, the complainant had filed a case before the single bench in the high court by furnishing alleged fabricated documents. Although the BBMP had fenced the property, the complainant still claimed to be in possession of the land. Following the HC order, the issue was taken to the sessions court and it got the ex-parte order, said Mr. Rao.

The documents provided to the court prove that the land belonged to the government since 1960. The witness examined on behalf of the plaintiff was the husband of the complainant. Why would a husband give evidence against his wife in a case which would benefit them both financially, asked Dr. Keshav Kumar.

The land is worth a whopping Rs 30 crores. Judging by the manner in which the case has been fought for the last four years by the plaintiff, it appears that officials’ palms have been greased to keep them from appearing in court for four long years, to fight the case. However, the Tahasildar of KR Puram now claims to have obtained a stay and has sent an appeal to the court, said Dr. Kumar.

Speaking to DC, the KR Puram Tahasildar Dr. Harish said that the plaintiff had obtained an ex-parte order in her favour and that it would be appealed. “Meanwhile, I will question why our officers did not challenge the case even once, in the last four years. We have not issued ‘khata’ and ‘pahani’ and have no intention of doing so either,” he assured.