Sakina Tashrifwala
Published on: 30 November 2022 at 21:36 IST
After tenants of the Shilpitha Splendour Annex Apartment complex in Mahadevapura prevented Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) workers from eliminating an encroachment on a stormwater drain and fencing the area recovered, the Karnataka High Court refused to toss out a FIR filed against them.
The incident was caused by the petitioners’ attempts to stop BBMP authorities, as shown by the photos and video clips. There is sufficient evidence, or “prima facie evidence,” to support the need for an investigation. The petition is therefore without merit and is likely to be dismissed, according to the order.
After the flooding earlier this year, the BBMP took the lead in leading the destruction of encroachments throughout the city.
In accordance with a high court ruling from January 2020, a team of BBMP officials and police officers went to the area in March to remove the encroachment and fence the area.
The order issued by a single-judge bench of Justice K Natarajan stated, “But the petitioners who are residing in Shilpitha Splendour Annex (hereinafter referred to as “Apartment”) are said to be illegally gathered and prevented the public servant while discharging duty and executing the order of the High Court.”
The homebuyers asserted that BBMP personnel had already cleared the area and surveyed the property, but there was nothing to survey, they said.
Before the court, the homebuyers had asserted that they had engaged in a peaceful strike and had not incited unrest against police or BBMP employees. The homebuyers defended themselves in court by saying, “They are the occupants of the abovementioned flat and, therefore, there is no unlawful assembly and there is no obstruction.”
The petitioners, who are the apartment’s owners, must be inside, but the court judgement stated that they “totally connected their hands aiming to prevent the public authority while fulfilling duty, which draws Section 149 of IPC.”
Chapter VIII of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, which lists all offences against public tranquillity, contains Section 149.
The order further said that the police are free to carry out an investigation and submit a charge sheet.
Residents are urged to assist as the BBMP continues its demolition drive.
The tehsildar would notify the unit owners of the impending destruction after the survey has been completed by the authorities, according to BBMP Chief Engineer M Lokesh. The notification stipulates that the property owners have three days to leave, he continued.
More than 2,000 encroachments have been removed in Bengaluru, according to the BBMP, and the agency is presently considering additional demolitions in the KR Puram and Mahadevpura sectors.
In a status report presented in October to a division bench presided over by acting chief justice Alok Aradhe, it was observed that the department has cleared 2,052 encroachments while still needing to demolish 504 others.
A Karnataka High Court panel composed of Justices Vishwajith Shetty and Aradhe stated last month that Bengaluru had seen “historic floods” and that some areas of the city were under water. The aforementioned predicament resulted from the BBMP’s failure to carry out its statutory obligations to remove encroachments.