The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday restrained the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike from putting up any further constructions inside Tagore park in R.T. Nagar.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Ashok S. Kinagi passed the interim order on a PIL petition filed by retired KAS officer S.R. Varambally and another resident of R.T. Nagar. The petitioners pointed out that the BBMP recently started earthwork by destroying the existing children’s play area in the park, having total extent of 2,387 sq m, for constructing a anganwadi centre.
Stating that the existing anganwadi centre was merely 50 m away from the park, the petitioners said that construction work had commenced hurriedly despite representation given to the BBMP against use of park for construction.
The area within the park where the play area was formed was utilised for construction, the petitioners alleged while contending that construction was a violation of the provisions of the Karnataka Parks, Playfields, and Open Spaces Act, 1985.
Garbage tender
In another case, the Bench ordered issue of notice to the State government and the BBMP on a PIL petition complaining that no tender for primary door-to-door waste collection and transportation works has been reserved for the persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe as per the provisions of the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act.
The petitioner, BBMP (Pourakarmikara and Arogya Gangmangala Sangha), has alleged that the BBMP had in August has issued work order for 45 wards based on the tender process initiated by way back in January 2019 despite a resolution passed by the BBMP council in June for inviting a fresh tender.
Also, the petitioner organisation has sought directions from the court to quash the tender process initiated in January 2019 and to direct the BBMP to initiate a fresh tender process incorporating reservation for contractors belonging to SC/ST communities.
