Karanth Layout: Little time for alternate sites

NT Correspondent

Those who bought revenue sites at the proposed Dr Shivaram Karanth Layout have to submit applications for alternative sites at the earliest as the authorities concerned may soon shut the online facility to file applications.

It is estimated that around 2,900 people bought revenue sites at the proposed Dr Shivaram Karanath Layout and around 2,300 revenue site owners submitted applications online seeking alternative sites. “Around 600 revenue site owners are yet to submit applications seeking alternative sites. It will be good if they submit applications online without wasting time as the three-member committee has commenced the scrutiny of the applications submitted online,’’ said Justice A.V. Chandrashekhar, a retired High Court Judge heading the three-member committee appointed by the Supreme Court.

Justice Chandrasekhar has said the revenue site owners have to submit the applications online only as there is no facility to submit applications offline. “We have constituted a committee with three retired district judges to scrutinise the applications submitted by the revenue site owners,” said Justice Chandrasekhar.

The Justice Chandrashekhar Committee (JCC) appointed by the Supreme Court in order to recommend regularisation of buildings which have come up at Dr Shivaram Karanth Layout has been functioning since December 2020. The JCC has submitted 12 reports to the Supreme Court in 15 months.

“The Supreme Court, after considering the reports of the JCC, has approved the regularisation of as many as 1,475 buildings which have come up in the notified area of 17 villages of Dr Shivaram Karanth Layout during the years 2014- 2018. The JCC has duly communicated the order of the Supreme Court regularising these buildings to all the applicants by SMS,” said Justice Chandrashekhar.

The JCC has decided to issue regularisation certificates (RCs) to the owners whose buildings got the Supreme Court nod for regularisation. “The RCs have been exclusively designed for the building owners of Dr Shivaram Karanth Layout keeping in mind the peculiar circumstances of the layout. The work on preparing the RCs will begin soon,” he said.

In addition to the regularisation of 1,475 buildings, the Supreme Court has ordered the BDA not to acquire 13 BDA approved layouts in Dr Shivaram Karanth Layout and two multistoried apartment complexes under construction.

The apex court has okayed the JCC’s proposal to regularise eight institutions such as Vidhya Vikas Educational Charitable Trust at Veerasagara village, NIKISA Dementia Home and Alzheimer Hospital at Kempanahalli, Balaji Education Trust at Ramagondanahalli, Gangothri Educational and Charitable Trust at Kalathammanahalli, St. Philomena’s School at Byalakere, Jamia Masjid at Ganigarahalli, Dr Sanjay Multi-specialty Hospital at Veerasagara, and Divya Karuyna Charitable Trust at Byalakere.

He said the JCC continues its task of identifying buildings coming under the Dr Shivaram Karanth Layout while categorising them as ‘pre 2014’, ‘between 2014 and 2018,’ ‘Post 2018,’ and ‘Spill over’. “The Supreme Court passed a significant order on March 31 instructing the BDA Commissioner to allot 150 acres of land in Dr Shivaram Karanth Layout in six separate blocks of 25 acres each to Rajiv Gandhi Housing Corporation Ltd for constructing houses/flats for allotment to economically weaker sections of the society,” he said.