BENGALURU: Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) chief commissioner Tushar Giri Nath said on Wednesday that Palike does not have ownership of the disputed Idgah Maidan in Chamarajpet.
Giri Nath told reporters that according to available documents, Supreme Court and other court orders have said that "BBMP does not have ownership of the land although the ground was in their possession". He pointed out that 'possession' and 'ownership' are different.
'BBMP has possession rights, not ownership'
Giri Nath said the urban local body's name was mentioned under the 'holders' column during a city survey. Therefore, BBMP had taken possession of the land. He said the khata shows that the civic body has possession rights, but not its ownership. "If the Karnataka state board of AUQAF submits an application showing documents of ownership of the land to secure khata, BBMP is open to review it," he added.
BBMP sources said that since the land is not owned by AUQAF or BBMP, any decision on the issue rests with the revenue department.
Therefore, the Palike may stay away from deciding about the applications filed by several rightwing organisations to hold events at the disputed maidan.
