BBMP allowed to remove arch and gate from 'gated community'

S Shyam Prasad | NT

Bengaluru: Rejecting the concept of “gated communities” the High Court of Karnataka allowed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to remove an arch and gate put up by the residents of Veracious Vanivilas Flat Owners Association in Puttenahalli, Yelahanka.

“It hardly needs to be stated that the roads and such other public amenities should be kept intact for the collective enjoyment of the residents of the layout and also others coming from outside if any structure exists as an impediment, it is open to the jurisdictional local body to remove the same or cause to be removed,” the Division Bench of Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Krishna S Dixit said in their judgement.

The residents of the apartments had challenged a single judge order on October 4, 2023, which had allowed the BBMP to remove an arch and gate on the road within 30 days.

The counsel for the residents argued that “the subject layout is a gated community” and the arch and gate therefore cannot be ordered to be removed.

The division bench however approved the single judge order and said that there is no concept of ‘gated community.’

It said, “The very concept of a “Gated Community” is not invokable since the roads in the layout can be accessed by the public at large and therefore, any interdiction is unsustainable, subject to all just exceptions in which appellant’s case is not shown to fit.”

Rejecting the arguments of the residents, the HC said, “The submission of the learned counsel for the appellant structured on the basis of relinquishment of roads and public amenities, does not much impress us, either. This kind of reasoning underpins the impugned order which has brought about a just result.”

The HC said that the single judge order had taken into account “that the roads, sewages and such other public amenities in an approved layout vest in the Government/The Competent Authority who has approved.”

In this case, the roads and the other amenities belonged to the BBMP. The bench thus dismissed the appeal. (WA 1426/2023)