By Firoz.T.Totanawala
The Bangalore Metro Reporter
1st October 2010 Issue-
NOW
ROSES TO LEGALISE ILLEGAL ACTS?
SACHIDANANDANAGAR LAYOUT- A SCAM IN
ITSELF
On September 16th
2010, few people featured in the media offering roses to the BBMP
Commissioner demanding their sites/Houses in Sachidanandanagar Layout in RR
Nagar be regularized by registering the Khata’s. This novel protest made
headlines in both print and visual media and the BBMP Commissioner promised
positive actions in few days. Whatsoever, the fact remains that the Sachidanandanagar
layout formed by the notorious Vishwa Bharati Housing Society is entirely
illegal.
In the context, let
us understand the scam in its entirety.
THE BEGINNING
It all began in the nineties
when B.Krishna Bhat formed a layout in Pattanagere and Halagevaderahalli survey
number lands meaning agriculture lands through his Vishwa Bharati Housing Co
operative Society. These agriculture lands actually can not be used for
non-agriculture purposes without obtaining the conversions. B.Krishna Bhat
posing himself as an agriculturist entered into sale agreements with the land
owners of about 68 acres in Halagevaderahalli and got the possession through
sale deeds and General Power of Attorneys. Besides, he used the society’s funds
to purchase the lands in his name and later, gave the GPA in favour of the
society that is B.Krishna Bhat himself.
Then without bothering
to apply for conversion, land acquisition, layout plan etc. he simply started
forming the layout. He formed 950 sites and sold them to people treating them
as members of the society. As the housing society is a registered co-op
society, it cannot simply purchase lands, form sites and sell it to the
members/public. It has to follow the law of the land and function under rule of
law. But B. Krishna Bhat does not know the law of the land or rule of law and simply
cared two hoots to follow it.
BORN ILLEGALLY
Form the very
beginning, the layout is illegal as it had no sanction of law. Primarily, a
society can not purchase agricultural lands. Under
the Karnataka Land
Besides, there are
various steps and a procedure to be followed if a society has to acquire an
agricultural land. It has to first get the lands acquired by the Government, then,
get the layout approved by the BDA, form the sites to be allotted to the
members of the society following the seniority list as approved by the
registrar of co-op societies. It is a very long process and the society is also
required to spend money at every stage.
THE CORRECT
PROCEDURE- STEP 1
First, the society has
to identify the lands and get consent from the land owners. Then it has to make
an application to the Land Acquisition Officer to get the lands notified for
the acquisition. At this time, the society has to pay acquisition cost to the
government. The Land Acquisition Officer issues the notification, calls for
objections etc. holds inquiry with the land owners and fixes the price of the
lands. The society then has to pay the price of the lands to the Land Acquisition
Officer who in turn disburses the same to the land owners after getting
physical possession. After all these procedures, the Government hands over the
lands to the society and that land should be converted. This is the first step.
STEP- 2
The society after
getting the lands should submit a layout plan to the BDA for approval. The town
planning member in the BDA thoroughly vets the plan for provisions for CA
sites, roads, parks etc. Once the plan is approved in principle, the BDA
calculates the supervision charges to supervise the formation of the layout. It
then asks the society to pay up the supervision charges and approves the plan
only after the society pays up the charges. This is the second step.
STEP- 3
The society can go
ahead with formation of the layout’s civil works. And here too, the society has
to surrender the CA sites and other public utility lands to the BDA through a
registered relenquity deed. After all these formalities are over, the society
can take up the site allotment, this is the third step.
FINAL STEP- 4
However, the society
cannot allot sites on its whims and fancies to its members/outsiders. The
society being a co-operative one is bound to follow the direction of the
registrar of co-op societies, the act and rules. As per the law, before starting
the site allotments, the society has to prepare the seniority list of the
members eligible for site allotments and has to get the same approved by the
registrar of co-op societies. And only then the society can register the sites
in favour of eligible members. This is the final step.
But, in case of B.Krishna
Bhat’s Sachidanandanagar Layout, not a single rule has been followed.
What Krishna Bhat has done is a mockery of the law of the land
and rule of law has become the first casualty. If one were to take a grace at
his actions in this regard, one wonders whether the law of the land had been
“exempted” in his case!
THE CONFISCATION
Whatsoever, the malpractices of B. Krishna Bhat could not
escape from the eyes of law. The then Assistant Commissioner, who conducted enquiry
under section 83 of KLR Act, found the society and B. Krishna Bhat violating
the provisions of the act and confiscated 68 acres of land in Halagevaderahalli
in 2001. But Krishna Bhat continued his layout
works and selling sites and in fact purchased some more agricultural lands.
It is another matter that B.Krishna Bhat, true to his style
took the matter of confiscation of lands to KAT and hurried the purchasers to
build houses on their sites, so that their properties could be regularized by
the Pattanagere CMC. In fact, the Assistant Commissioner in his order had
directed the CMC Commissioner not to issue Khatas to the purchasers of the sites
in these lands and also prevent unauthorized and illegal constructions.
In the meanwhile, the then Divisional Commissioner after
coming to know of the violations by the society and also illegal alienation of
the agriculture lands, had slapped a notice on Krishna Bhat’s society to pay
Rs. 3.42 crores as conversion charges. As usual, B. Krishna Bhat also
challenged this notice in the High court and in 2003, the court quashed the
notice and referred the matter again to the Divisional Commissioner to
reconsider the matter afresh and pass appropriate orders regarding conversions.
In this case, the Divisional Commissioner had taken action under Karnataka Land
GOVERNMENT CIRCULAR & HOLDER KHATA
Forget about this, amidst all these, B.Krishna Bhat took
the advantage of the Government circular in 1997 regarding the regularization
of revenue properties and collection of betterment charges by CMC and
Municipalities. Interestingly, this circular had directed the municipal bodies
to collect taxes from the owners of revenue properties for having used the
civic amenities provided by the municipal bodies. It had also directed to issue
“Holder” Khatas to such properties and it should be noted that Holder khata is
not a regular khata but “Anubhavdar” khata which does not provide fool proof
title and ownership.
B. Krishna Bhat succeeded in getting around 150 properties
regularized by the Pattanagere CMC before the Divisional Commissioner ordered
freeze in 2000. The DVC had directed the special Divisional Commissioner, to
cancel all the khatas already made in respect of allottees of B. Krishna Bhat’
society. He also directed to take action against the society for forming the
layout on agricultural lands and also asked the Special Divisional Commissioner
to direct the Sub register not to register the sites in this illegal layout.
Here again, BKB filed a case in civil court and got a
temporary stay over the DVC letter. Finally, the court quashed the DVC letter
and direction and ordered the registration of the khatas. Interestingly, even
though the layout plan was not approved by BDA, he submitted a so called
“approved layout” and mislead the Court also.
FOILED AGAIN
Most importantly, the regularization scheme was meant only
for revenue properties and it was not applicable to the sites of the housing
co-op society. Still armed with the court order, B. Krishna Bhat tried to
browbeat the CMC officials to affect the khatas. But the Government order in
2007 prohibiting collection of betterment charges once again foiled B. Krishna Bhat’s
attempts to get the khatas registered.
Ooops! This is the sad but true story of manipulation about
the Sachidananda Nagar Layout. And now, the individual site owners of this
completely illegal layout have opted for Gandhigiri, inspired by the Bollywood
hit. They are demanding the registration and legalization of their sites/Houses
by offering roses to the BBMP Commissioner. They have also sought the help of
Lokayukta, who actually is nowhere connected with this issue and also hyped
this matter in the Media without revealing the truth of the entire deal. Now
the question is, by merely offering roses to the present Commissioner, can
someone really trespass all the laws and legalise the entire illegal layout?
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