The New Indian Express 03.02.2010
BDA sites: MLAs, MLCs get notices
BANGALORE: The High Court on Tuesday issued notices to 66 MLAs and MLCs, including four ministers, who were allotted ‘G’ category sites by the Bangalore Development Authority.
The division bench comprising justice V Gopala Gowda and Justice AS Bopanna issued the notices to chief secretary, Urban Development, and 66 MLAs and MLCs, after hearing the public interest litigation filed by S Vasudeva.
The petitioner challenged the government’s notification on February 28, 2009, allotting BDA sites to 66 MLAs and MLCs of both the ruling and opposition parties under the ‘G’ category. The petitioner also sought the Court to quash the notification.
S Vasudeva also challenged rule 5 of the BDA Act, 1976, which empowers the CM to allot ‘G’ category sites to public figures.
The MLAs and MLCs possess sites in their respective constituencies.
Whenever they require to attend the legislative session, they are accommodated at the Legislature’s Home, so there was no need to allot sites for them to stay, Vasudeva argued.
More than two lakh applicants are waiting in queue to obtain BDA sites. However, the 66 legislators have obtained sites without submitting applications; the decision of allotting sites to them is contrary to the Act and the government has misused its power, Vasudeva argued.
The procedures followed in allotting the sites were illegal and the government had violated natural justice, the allotties are not entitled to get ‘G’ category sites from BDA, the petitioner argued.
He also mentioned that during SM Krishna’s tenure, 334 sites were allotted, in HD Kumaraswamy’s regime, 283 sites were allotted, and 132 sites has been allotted by the BJP government under the ‘G’ category.
BBMP elections: Bench changed
The division bench headed by Justice Manjula Chellur will hear the PIL challenging the order of commissioner of the state election commission cancelling the calendar of events for BBMP polls on January 27.
The division bench led by Justice V Gopala Gowda had asked the Court’s registry to place the matter before another bench after obtaining permission from CJ P D Dinakaran.
