BBMP has issued notices threatening to cancel the khata
BBMP has issued notices has issued notices threatening to cancel the khatas (equivalent to title deeds) of 307 of the 650 land owners in the scenic 58-acre BHEL House Building Co-operative Society layout in Rajarajeshwari Nagar.
For the last 35 years, Ranjini Harish, now a retired BHEL officer, saved every penny to build a two-storeyed dream house at Remco Layout off Mysore Road. A few streets down, 75-year-old former BHEL employee R S Padmanabhan had in 1997 invested Rs 8.5 lakh— the whole of his life savings, including his Provident Fund and gratuity, to buy a plot.But their world has come crashing down in the last few weeks as the BBMP has issued notices threatening to cancel the khatas (equivalent to title deeds) of 307 of the 650 land owners, including Harish and Padmanabhan, in the scenic 58-acre BHEL House Building Co-operative Society layout in Rajarajeshwari Nagar. “This whole issue has come up after 15 years because the BBMP is under pressure from certain politicians to evict us and take over this prime property,” alleged Ranjini’s husband Harish Babu.
On Monday, Pamanabhan had to watch helplessly as a fence he had constructed was pulled down, and replaced by a compound wall he had no permission to enter. The first set of 172 notices came on April 4 this year and 135 more reached the owners on August 13. These notices cite discrepancies in land documents due to a 15-year-old civil dispute between the original landlords, who were mostly farmers, and the society. BBMP has issued notices threatening to cancel the khatas (equivalent to title deeds) of 307 land owners.
The residents, who had a stormy meeting with additional commissioner K M Ramachandran at the BBMP zonal office in RR Nagar on Monday, allege that while the civic body is quoting a court dispute from 1995, it is overlooking an agreement reached between the farmers and the society later that year. “Yes, there were some problems when one farmer went to court challenging the society’s land acquisition. But other farmers were willing to sell the land, and an agreement was finally made against compensation of Rs 60,000 per acre. We have these agreement papers, but the BBMP is ignoring them and acting only on the pending civil dispute.” said society president Shankar Beleri.
“This whole issue has come up after 15 years because the BBMP is under pressure from certain politicians to evict us and take over this prime property,” alleged Ranjini’s husband Harish Babu. “They have tampered with the papers at BBMP offices.”
Of the 650 site owners in the layout, 450 have already constructed homes, most of them with the help of large bank loans. “People have constructed homes with bank loans and invested their life-time savings. How do we cope up with this?’’ society president Beleri asked.
On its part, the civic body says that it is simply following the court’s directive.“There are three court orders on this dispute, and we’re acting accordingly,’’ BBMP commissioner K M Ramachandran said. “While one order says that land should be restored to the farmers, another one is about an agreement between the farmers and the society, but there is also a pending dispute,’’ he said.
The society members fear that cancelling of khatas will eventually lead to their sale deeds being challenged in court. Of the 650 site, 450 land owners have already constructed homes with bank loans and invested their life-time savings.
Courtesy: Bangalore Mirror
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