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BENGALURU: A division bench of the Karnataka High Court, led by Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru, has annulled a previous ruling mandating the Greater Bengaluru Authority to endorse a revised building plan from Sangam Enterprises, providing significant relief to the civic body.
Sangam Enterprises aimed to utilize a Transferable Development Rights (TDR) certificate issued on April 18, 2015, to augment the height of their 5,630 sqm property, encompassing two adjacent plots on Dhanvantari Road and Subedar Chatram Road in the Majestic area of Bengaluru. The proposed changes sought to elevate the building height from 15m to 29.6m and reduce the setback requirement by 50%, based on a BBMP circular from 2009 and TDR certificates acquired by the petitioner.
After enduring two rounds of legal challenges, the Karnataka Fire Service Department issued a no-objection certificate on October 7, 2017. However, BBMP did not grant approval for the revised plan. Sangam Enterprises subsequently filed another petition in 2023, which was approved on May 29, 2024, directing BBMP to consider the revised plan submitted on March 28, 2014.
BBMP contested this order in the high court, asserting that the modified plan did not adhere to the Karnataka Town and Country Planning (Benefit of Development Rights) Rules, 2016, which came into effect on March 4, 2017. However, the firm contended that the approval should be governed by the regulations in force at the time of their application on March 28, 2014.
Upon reviewing the case, the division bench referenced the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Howrah Municipal Corporation case and similar judgments, clarifying that the pertinent approval date is when the sanction is granted, not when the plans are submitted.
In this instance, Sangam Enterprises sought an NOC for the modified plan on February 22, 2017, following the amendment to Section 14B of the KTCP Act and the notification of new rules that limited setback relaxation to 25%. As a result, the revised plan did not meet compliance standards, and no orders could be issued for its approval. The bench concluded that the challenged order to sanction the modified plan, allowing the use of the TDR certificate dated April 18, 2015, was not sustainable.
A civil contempt petition against Tushar Girinath, the then BBMP Chief Commissioner, and Savithri Patil, BBMP Joint Director of Town Planning, for alleged non-compliance with the single-bench order, was subsequently dismissed following the high court’s ruling in the writ appeal.
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