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2023 Supreme(Kar) 1332

KARNATAKA HIGH COURT
KRISHNA S. DIXIT, J.
M. S. Ramaiah City Residents Welfare - Petitioner
Versus
Bangalore Development Authority and Ors. – Respondents
Writ Petition No. 7969 of 2016 (BDA)
Decided On : 03-03-2023

Advocates Appeared:
For the Petitioner: Sri. H. M. Muralidhar, Adv.
For the Respondents: Sri M.V. Charati, Adv., Sri R. Srinivasa Gowda, AGA, Sri B.J. Krishna Adv., Smt. Sumangala Simimath, Adv.

Headnote:(A) Karnataka Society Registration Act, 1960 - Bangalore Development Authority Act, 1976 - Sections 38 and 38A - Allotment of civic amenity site - Challenge to allotment of a site reserved for educational purposes to a religious trust - Court held that without a specific notification reserving the site for educational purpose, the allotment was valid - Civic amenity sites can be allocated for various purposes, including religious. (Paras 1-5)

(B) Judicial conduct - Doctrine of non-disclosure in writ petitions - Petitioner who had previously secured an allotment failed to disclose relevant facts regarding the rescission of that allotment, undermining his case. (Paras 4-5)

(C) Jurisdiction of the Court - Court noted that it would not interfere in administrative decisions unless there was a legal or factual error clearly substantiated. (Paras 3-5)

Facts of the case:
The petitioner, a society registered under Karnataka law, contested the allotment of a civic amenity site to a trust, claiming that it was wrongly allocated for a religious purpose when it should have been for educational use. The opposition cited previous decisions affirming the legitimacy of the allotment.

Findings of Court:
The court found that the allotment was valid due to the absence of any notification restricting the site to educational use and noted the importance of full disclosure by the petitioner regarding previous allotments.

Issues: The main questions were whether the allotment was permissible under civic amenity definitions and the significance of prior allotment history on the current challenge.

Ratio Decidendi: The court reasoned that civic amenity sites, as defined, can be allocated for various purposes, including religious ones, and that claims by the petitioner were weakened by lack of disclosure about previous allotments.

Result: Petition dismissed with costs of Rs.1,00,000/- payable by the petitioner.

Table of Content
1. challenge to allotment based on reservation. (Para 1)
2. respondents defend the allotment actions. (Para 2)
3. grounds for denying petition and procedural concerns. (Para 3)

ORDER :

(Krishna S. Dixit, J.)

Petitioner, a Society registered under the provisions of the Karnataka Society Registration Act,1960 comprises of members who happen to be owners of houses/sites in a residential layout. It seeks to lay a challenge to the allotment of the subject sites in favour of the 4th respondent-Trust. Learned counsel for the petitioner vehemently argues that: This civic amenity site having been reserved for educational purpose could not have been allotted for religious purpose; the 4th respondent not even being the applicant, no allotment could have been made in its favour. In support of his submission he banks upon a ruling of the Apex Court and of a Co-ordinate Bench of this Court.

2. After service of notice, the respondent-State has entered appearance through the AGA. The respondent-BDA is represented by its Sr. Panel Counsel who has filed the Statement of Objections on 21.06.2022 opposing the petition. The respondent BBMP speaks through its Panel Advocate. The allottee-Trust is represented by a private counsel. All they make submission in justification of the impugned allotment and the conveyance that followed it.

3. Having heard the learned counsel for the parties and having perused the petition papers, this Court declines indulgence in the matter for the following reasons:

    (a) The subject site is designated as a civic amenity site, is not in dispute. A civic amenity site cannot be allotted for a purpose which does not partake the character of civic amenity, is also not disputed by the other side. The submission of learned counsel for the petitioner that the subject civic amenity site is reserved for educational purpose and therefore cannot be allotted for any other purpose, is bit difficult to countenance when no notification reserving the said site for educational purpose having been produced or pointed out. The argument of petitioner's counsel that the subject site was earlier notified for educational purpose only and therefore it should be presumed that it was reserved for the said purpose, is too far fetched an argument. Earmarking a site as a civic amenity site is one thing and reserving it for one of the civic amenity purposes is another. The second has to be done by a notification consistent with Section 38A of the Bangalore Development Authority Act, 1976 r/w Rule 3 of the extant Allotment Rules. In other words, the definition of the term 'civic amenity' given under Section 2(bb) of the Act being too inclusive, such a site can be allotted for the purpose of any of the civic amenities which under clause (iv) of Section 2(bb) which includes religious purpose as well.

    (b) The vehement submission of learned counsel for the petitioner that the Apex Court in Civil Appeal No.10750/2013 between Bharat Petroleoum Corporation Ltd., v. Dr.Harish V.Iyer, decided on 29.11.2013 supports case of his client, is bit difficult to agree with. True it is that at para 14 there is discussion about the provisions of Sections 38 & 38A of the 1976 Act and Rule 3 of the Bangalore Development Authority (Allotment of Civic Amenity Sites) Rules, 1989. The case involved allotment of a civic amenity site to a bank when it was earmarked for a park. That is not the case here. This difference makes the decision uninvokable for the case at hands. It hardly needs to be stated that a decision is an authority for the proposition that it actually lays down in a given fact matrix and not for all that which logically follows from what has been so laid down vide Quinn v. Leatham , 1901 AC 495. For the same reason much milk cannot be drawn from the Co-ordinate Bench decision in W.P.No.41717/2011 between Manyata Residents Assn. & Another v. Bangalore Development Authority & Others decided on 06.03.2013.

    (c) The second submission of the petitioner's coun

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