300 acres for entertainment park: Illegal allotments cannot be allowed, says HC

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka has said that illegal allotments made by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) from the land earmarked for an entertainment park cannot be allowed.

A division bench of the HC dismissed an appeal by the KIADB which had challenged a single judge bench order which had directed it to allot 300 acres of land earmarked for Cornerstone Property Developers for an “Integrated Entertainment Theme Park, Tourism cum Sports Hub.”

The KIADB had claimed that some of the land was allotted to other parties.

Placing the blame on the CEO of the KIADB, the division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Krishna S Dixit said, “The CEO of the KIADB ought to have notified such a development to the State High Level Clearance Committee/ Single Window Clearance Committee when the meeting was held on 23.03.2020. In not disclosing the allotments that were made or being made to others, he had kept the SHLCC in darkness. That is the reason why the learned Single Judge found such allotments to be illegal. Allowing KIADB’s appeal would virtually amount to placing a premium on its illegal acts and therefore, a Writ Court cannot do it.”

The KIADB had filed the appeal which challenged the single judge order of January 21, 2022, which has said that the agency should consider the company’s representation within two weeks.

The representation had requested for the allotment of 300 acres of land for establishing the said Theme Park.

The KIADB claimed that the company had not remitted the 40% amount for the land and “since the subject land has already been allotted to others, no land in the said area avails for allotment to the respondent (company).”

The State High Level Clearance Committee in March 2020 granted two years for completion of the project. The CEO of KIADB is one of the members of the Committee which is headed by the Chief Minister.

The CEO of the KIADB was informed by the Committee to issue a demand note for payment of the initial deposit by the company. A further two years were allotted for completion of the project.

The HC noted that the KIADB failed to raise the demand for the initial payment of 40%. The HC noted that the KIADB CEO did not raise any objection in the Committee meeting.

“Now, the KIADB cannot turn around and say something repugnant to the Committee Resolution that is followed by the Government Order. The stand taken up in the appeal leaves things to the wild imagination of any prudent person with reasonable exposure to the functioning of the KIADB. More is not necessary to specify and less is insufficient to leave it unsaid,” the Division Bench said.

Dismissing the appeal, the HC said, “We fail to understand the conduct of the appellant-KIADB, in making allotments in respect of the land earmarked for the respondent-Company. The CEO of the KIADB ought to have notified such a development of the State High Level Clearance Committee/ Single Window Clearance Committee when the meeting was held on 23.03.2020.” (WA 1483/2023)