Observing that the menace of illegal constructions has not remained limited only to the cities but have now percolated to the areas of panchayats, the High Court of Karnataka has directed the State Government to regulate constructions in the panchayat areas by enforcing the building bylaws, which the panchayats have failed to adopt even six years after their enactment.
The court issued the direction after noticing that no panchayat in the State had adopted the Karnataka Panchayat Raj (Zilla Panchayats, Taluk Panchayats and Grama Panchayats Control over erection of Buildings) Model Bylaws, 2015, which came into force on May 8, 2015.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna, while dealing with a petition related to illegal construction in Maddur gram panchayat area of Mandya district noticed that GPs, TPs, and ZPs, though have obligation in law to adopt within three months the model bylaws notified by the Government, have failed to do till date.
“It is in public domain that there are mushrooming of construction activities in all the areas coming under the GPs, TPs, and ZPs. The violation of known norms of law in construction is not limited to areas in the city corporation limits. It has percolated into the areas of panchayats,” the court observed.
Therefore, the court said, “The time has arrived for the Government to regulate the constructions undertaken in the panchayat areas as well. The Government has notified the bylaws. The bylaws cannot remain on paper and the constructions in the panchayat areas can go on unabated violating every known norm of law.”
Observing that the Karnataka Grama Swarajya and Panchayat Raj Act empowers the Government to issue directions to the panchayts to adopt the model bylaws, the court directed the Government to take immediate steps to ensure that the building bylaws are enforced by every panchayat within a reasonable time to stall chaotic constructions coming up in rural areas.
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