JUDGMENT :

S.ABDUL NAZEER, J.

1. "Bangalore was a beautiful city – once" said Justice O. Chinnappa Reddy, in one of his judgments of the year 1987 (B.K. Srinivasan and Ors. v. State of Karnataka and Ors.[(1987) 1 SCC 658)]). He went on to say "It was a city with magic and charm, with elegant avenues, gorgeous flowers, lovely gardens and plentiful spaces. Not now. That was before the invasion of concrete and steel, of soot and smoke, of high rise and the fast buck. Gone are the flowers, gone are the trees, gone are the avenues, gone are the spaces……" Indeed, Bangalore was a beautiful city. It had luscious gardens, beautiful lakes, well-laid roads, plenty of open spaces and wonderful weather throughout the year. It was one of the most beautiful cities in the country. It was rightly called the "Garden City" and a "Pensioner's Paradise". These are things of the past. The city's environment is degraded so much and so fast that the time will not be far away for us to say "once upon a time Bangalore was a beautiful city." Traffic jams, overcrowding, haphazard constructions, dying lakes, destruction of the flora, shrinking of lung spaces etc have become the order of the day. Its clear cool f