Kannada actor Darshan Thogudeepa can now breathe a sigh of relief as the Karnataka high court on Tuesday stayed the proceedings by the district administration against his house in Rajarajeshwari Nagar in Bengaluru, reported TOI.
After the Bengaluru district authorities on Saturday gave the actor 15 days to vacate his house in Ideal Homes Layout, which had allegedly encroached upon land meant for storm water drains (SWD), Darshan filed a petition in the court.
Darshan’s house is among the seven houses at Ideal Homes Layout in Rajarajeshwari Nagar area that have received the notice. Their properties have been taken over by the government for apparently encroaching on government land.
Passing an interim order, Justice S Abdul Nazeer asked the government to respond to the actor’s petition.The Times of India reported that the court wanted to know what led the authorities to take possession of the property.
To this, the government advocate responded by saying that the actor and other house owners in Ideal Homes Layout had built their houses on government kharab land and that on September 28, they had been asked to produce documentary proof of the property.
In its earlier report, The Hindu quoted Bengaluru (urban) deputy commissioner as saying, “In all, there are 69 properties in Ideal Homes Layout, which, our investigation has concluded, have encroached upon 7 acres and 31 guntas of government kharab land”.
Apart from Ideal Homes Layout, Shamanur Shivashankarappa Hospital, has also been identified as sitting on ‘B’ Kharab land (wasteland), which is prohibited under the Karnataka Land Revenue Act.
The hospital management and owners of 41 properties, however, moved the High Court of Karnataka and obtained a stay on the takeover.
“After we served notices, S.S. Hospital and owners of 41 other properties managed to get an interim stay order from the High Court. So, we are acting against only those 27 properties on which there is no stay order,” Shankar said.
