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Chikkajala tank lies in the Chikkajala village in Bengaluru North Taluk, off National Highway-7. The area is traditionally dry with groundwater reserves too at a premium. This year the state government of Karnataka had asked the Bengaluru Turf Club (BTC) to shift out of its Race Course Road premises in the heart of the city to a new track to be built on this lake bed. This was in violation of a High Court order (1995) that no lake bed land in the Bengaluru Metropolitan Area should be used for development or construction of any kind. The government has filed an interim application before the high court asking for a modification of its order. The government has been able to get the land cleared by the court on the condition that the existing tank bed within the 125 acres will not be meddled with and preserved as a tank.
A petition was filed by advocate Shankaranarayanan in the Supreme Court (SC) alleging that the state government had taken a hasty in sanctioning the tank-bed area to the BTC. The SC had asked the state government to file a reply, but the government had failed to do so in the time given. In the interim, the government had allotted land at Chikkajala to the BTC and was on the verge of signing an agreement with the turf club. When this was brought to the notice of the SC, the apex court had ordered the state government to refrain from going ahead with the land allotment. The state government has filed a counter-reply in the SC urging it to vacate the interim order staying the allotment of land at Chikkajala to the BTC. The petitioners are to file a rejoinder to this reply. |
