BANGALORE: Allotment letters for sites in Arkavathy Layout will be issued from Monday.

Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy will issue the allotment letters. At least 1,000 letters will be given on that day. During this phase of allotment, lasting four days, 7,700 letters will be issued, according to a BDA official.

The BDA had already allotted 1,820 sites in the layout. The remaining sites would be allotted as and when land was available to BDA, the official said. In its original plan for the layout, the BDA had envisioned a total of 25,900 sites, including 5,900 revenue sites and corner sites. However, some members of the BDA indicated that there would be a shortfall in sites. Those with priority would be issued the sites first.

During a recent board meeting, the BDA decided to delete 140 acres and 26 guntas of land that was under litigation. This was as per the High Court directions to the BDA. At the meeting, the board also decided to acquire 837 acres and 28 guntas of notified land, which was under litigation but which had been cleared now. The land was mostly owned by revenue site owners. For the revenue site owners who had the sale deed registered before the preliminary notification, the BDA decided to give a 30 X 40 site at BDA rates on an out-of-term allotment basis.

Of the 2,750 acres notified for the layout, nearly 748 acres were in dispute. There were 1,424 aggrieved landowners, the majority of whom were revenue site owners, seeking exclusion of their land from the acquisition process. They said that their land was either situated in the green belt, was totally built-up, or comprised properties constructed by charitable, educational or religious institutions, nursery lands or industries.

The preliminary notification for the layout, which is being developed over an extent of 2,750 acres in 16 villages coming under Yelahanka and K.R. Puram hoblis of Bangalore North taluk and Bangalore East taluk, was issued during the S.M. Krishna regime in February 2003 while the final notification was issued a year later. Allotment of sites during the Dharam Singh Government was announced in January 2005. More than 2.7 lakh people applied for a site in the layout and the BDA took Rs. 9.7 crore as deposit. However, allotment of sites was postponed because of the several cases pending before the High Court challenging various aspects of the formation of the layout and the compensation amount. Later, Justice V. Gopala Gowda upheld the petitions by residents of 16 villages and termed the acquisition as illegal and unconstitutional.

The High Court also directed the BDA to hold talks with revenue site owners, a process which was just completed by the BDA. In February 2006, over 1,000 sites of the layout were allotted.

"The High Court had ordered us to follow some procedures. Since we completed that only recently, we are now ready to go ahead with allotments," said a BDA official.

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