[Urbanstudy] Lok Adalat takes issue with roadwidening panel

[ESGINDIA]

Dear All,

As you are aware, the Hon'ble High Court of Karnataka had ruled in PIL 
filed by Environment Support Group and ors, that transport 
infrastructure in Bangalore (be it road widening, Metro, etc.) had to be 
implemented in conformity with law (Karnataka Town and Country Planning 
Act, Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act, Karnataka Tree Preservation 
Act, etc.), be based on public consultation and fulfill the objective of 
sustainable development.  To ensure this an interdisciplinary Committee 
was constituted under the Chairmanship of Mr. Yellappa Reddy, former 
Environment Secretary of Karnataka. (A copy of our PIL and the order is 
accessible at www.esgindia.org)

Since the ruling, the Committe has had about a dozen sittings, but none 
of the applications of the Petitioners to ensure these projects met with 
the directives of the High Court were considered.  We were also denied 
any participation rights, despite our repeated appeals.  We were 
constrained therefore to move the Karnataka Legal Aid Services Authority 
for dispute resolution, as required per the High Court's order.

We secured a significant victory in asserting our Right to Participate 
in this quasi judicial Committee yesterday, when the Hon'ble Lok Adalat 
(set up by the Legal Aid Services Authority) ruled in our favour.

Enclosed is an article that captures yesterday's developments and the 
decisions, comprehensively.

Leo Saldanha



http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/620-lok-adalat-bbmp
HEARING ON TREE-CUTTING


    Lok Adalat takes issue with roadwidening panel

Chairman Yellapa Reddy of the Bengaluru's oversight committee on 
roadwidening found himself on the backfoot in a hearing at the High 
Court. The citizens vs. authorities saga continues.

By Supriya Khandekar
20 Nov 2008, Citizen Matters
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In a Lok Adalat hearing on 19th November at the High Court of Karnataka, 
Justice K L Manjunath pointedly asked Yellapa Reddy, chairman of the 
committee overseeing Bengaluru's roadwidening project to listen to the 
petitioners complaints on widespread tree cutting. The Adalat took 
exception to Reddy's standpoint which appeared to one of merely 
representing local government officials' views instead of striking a 
balance between citizens and officials.

As reported earlier in /Citizen Matters/, a writ petition was filed by 
NGOs Environment Support Group, CIVIC and the green network Hasiru Usiru 
a few months ago, against the tree cutting undertaken by the Bruhat 
Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). Following that, on the court's 
direction, the BBMP had constituted a nine-member 'Sustainable 
Development Empowered Technical Advisory Committee' in July 2008, under 
the chairmanship of Yellapa Reddy, a retired officer of the Indian 
Forest Service (IFS).

The court had ruled that the committee take public opinion into account 
and pass orders on the advice of the experts. It had also directed the 
BBMP and other agencies working on infrastructural development to 
consult the committee.

Chopped tree stumps from the road widening ongoing in the Madiwala area. 
At the junction of Hosur Road-Sarjapur Road, near St John's Hospital.

Chopped tree stumps in the Madiwala area where roadwidening proceeded 
earlier this year. File Pic: Meera K.

A Lok Adalat is a mediation court setup by High Court Legal Services 
Committee for amicably settling disputes by way of compromise. A Lok 
Adalat hearing involves a sitting or retired judge and one or more 
conciliators, who can be an advocate or social worker or expert. On 
Wednesday, this Adalat met to resolve the ongoing dispute between the 
petitioners of the original litigation and the committee.

Justice K L Manjunath, of the Karnataka High Court and Dr H C Sharat 
Chandra, Chairman, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board were 
adjudicating. The petitioner's advocate noted their primary complaint: 
that the committee did not allow the petitioners to attend any of their 
meetings and their grievances or suggestions were not considered.

When the committee advocate was asked to respond he repeatedly mentioned 
that the petitioners are never stopped and "they can attend the meetings 
as observers." The Adalat retorted that the petitioners were not mere 
observers but participants. This was one of the major clauses of the 
high court ruling to form this committee.

Yellapa Reddy, Chairman of the Empowered Committee, came to the hearing 
with several members of the committee. Arguing his case, he accused the 
petitioners of forcing him to take action against the M R Suresh, the 
tree officer of BBMP. As Reddy tried justifying the tree felling done by 
the BBMP, the Adalat warned him on talking on behalf of the authorities 
and advised him to take a balanced view. He was asked to listen to the 
petitioners and the respondents without any bias. This was a key moment 
in a saga that has gone for several months.

Wheelchair participant in

A 'Namma Raste' walk held recently in protest against 'reckless' 
tree-cutting brought nearly a 1000 citizens. File Pic: Deepa Mohan.

More issues were raised by the petitioners, including the 'illegality' 
of tree felling, irregularities in following the procedures of the 
Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act and so on. But as the Adalat 
does not have the powers to pass rulings, it concentrated on solving the 
disputes. "The Adalat is like a conciliator and cannot deliver 
judgments", said Justice Manjunath.

However, in response to the grievances, the Adalat insisted that Reddy 
fix a date and time for the next committee meeting in front of the 
court. Justice Manjunath also asked the committee to ensure 
participation of the petitioners, and was told that failure to do so 
would be considered contempt of court.

Reddy finally announced that the next committee meeting would be held on 
Monday 24th November, and that he would ensure petitioners' 
participation. BDA Commissioner H Siddiah was also present at the 
hearing.* ?*

Supriya Khandekar 
<http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/author/330-supriya-khandekar>
20 Nov 2008

/Supriya Khandekar is a staff journalist at Citizen Matters./

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