MYSORE: The Mysore Grahakara Parishat (MGP) has attributed violation of the law by local bodies to ineffective communication of High Court orders to the Government.

According to the MGP, this has put pressure on the judicial system as the same issues, which have been settled in earlier case, keep appearing before the court. The MGP has suggested that if legal principles to be decided by the High Court are likely to be generally applicable and not solely to the parties appearing before the court, the Government should direct the court to issue a G.O. within a specific period incorporating its decision.

In a memorandum addressed to the Governor and the Chief Justice of Karnataka, MGP president Major General (retd.) Sudhir Vombatkere cited three examples to reiterate the point. He said in 1988 a Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court ruled that conditions of allotment of a site cannot be overruled. If a site is allotted for building a house, it cannot be used later to build an apartment building, a hospital, a commercial complex and other things.

However, civic authorities are permitting the construction of commercial complexes, hospitals, petrol stations, apartment buildings and theatres on residential sites all over the State though the High Court has prohibited this, Mr. Vombatkere said.

The order was passed by the High Court more than 17 years ago, he said. However, municipalities, corporations and urban development authorities continue to permit construction of non-residential buildings on residential sites, destroying the "very concept of orderly development".

Hundreds of cases have been filed in various courts against such buildings, but civic authorities continue to ignore the court ruling, he said.

The memorandum referred to the frequent regularisation of building bylaw violations though the Karnataka High Court has unequivocally said that building bylaw violations should be regularised only in exceptional cases. The MGP pointed out that the civic authorities in the State have consistently ignored the order and are routinely regularising even large violations of building bylaws.

Mr. Vombatkere referred to the implementation of SAS scheme for property tax and said several owners in Mysore obtained a stay on the revised SAS from the High Court in 2004.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail