Illegal construction near Varthur Main Road, Siddapura, Whitefield.
DH PHOTO/PUSHKAR V
Bengaluru: Even though the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (KMC) Act is no longer applicable to the BBMP’s jurisdiction, official records show that the Karnataka Appellate Tribunal's (KAT) registry has admitted nearly 200 appeals against the civic body’s building demolition notices in the last four years.
This has raised concerns, especially among those who are fighting against the illegal constructions in Bengaluru.
The tribunal does not have the authority to handle appeals related to building violations as these powers have been transferred to the chief commissioner as per the BBMP Act, notified in December 2020.
Official data shows the KAT’s revenue section admitted a total of 197 appeals between February 2021 and April 2024. Of these, 134 were recorded in 2021, 35 in 2022, 23 in 2023, and five so far this year. This is in addition to the 200-odd cases, admitted prior to the BBMP Act came into force.
In some cases, the tribunal has sat on the appeals beyond the one-year timeline, as prescribed by the High Court in 2021, only to be sent back to the BBMP for a fresh review. This has made the time spent with the KAT essentially futile. This pattern suggests that some builders are exploiting these delays to postpone the enforcement of demolition orders, thus gaining more time to complete their illegal constructions.
A senior officer of the KAT said the tribunal has been admitting these appeals in matters where the engineers issued the notices prior to December 2020 and when the KMC Act was in force. He, however, admitted that there are some appeals that are wrongly admitted. “We will dismiss them as they are unmaintainable.”
Suhas Ananth Rajukumar, a resident of CV Raman Nagar, wondered why the KAT was admitting fresh appeals when it has a backlog of over 450 such cases.
"Even one year is a long time to spend in a legal battle as builders get ample time to fully complete the illegal construction,” he said. “When there are unnecessary delays by the judiciary itself or by an arm of the judiciary, like the KAT is in this case, the regular people are squeezed by the entire system with no hope for justice.”
BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath said he was not aware that KAT was admitting demolition appeals even now.
"I will write to the tribunal not to accept cases. The KAT does not have the jurisdiction to admit appeals. If they do, it is a crime," he said.