When lake land is allotted to private parties

BANGALORE: Government officials are expected to clear the encroachment of lakes. They cannot also allot the land of a lake for any other purposes. But what can be said if a Deputy Commissioner does not respond even after the allottees ask him to take back the land allotted to them? Radha Soami Satsang Beas, which had a land adjacent to Doddabidarakallu Lake, requested the State Government to allot a few acres of land on lease for plant saplings.The purpose was to protect the devotees from the bad odour that emanated from the lake. The Deputy Commissioner allotted four acres and 18 guntas by collecting Rs 44.50 lakh instead of allotting land on lease.“We requested the Government to allot the land for lease but the Deputy Commissioner allotted four acres and 18 guntas of land after collecting Rs 44.50 lakh from us on May 31, 2005,”said Deepak Khurana, a committee member of Radha Soami Satsang Beas.However, the officials delayed issuing the RTC (Pahani) for the allotted land for five years.Ramanjaneya, Special Deputy Commissioner, took a special interest to issue the RTC (RRT/I/N/CR/71/9-10, dated January 13, 2010) for the land to Radha Soami Satsang Beas without thinking whether he could do it or not.When the Beas members tried to fill the ditches, the villagers and Revenue Department officials swung into action stating that the land belonged to the lake.The Beas members brought it to the present Deputy Commissioner Aiyappa’s notice (No ZS-SS-041/K-Land) on March 25 this year, stating that they got the land on the basis of the government order and they were not aware that it was a lake land.“Our Guruji had made it that we should not buy the land which invites litigation or criticism from the public. We have now requested the Deputy Commissioner to allot an alternative land anywhere in Bangalore. On July 5, we again wrote a letter to the Deputy Commissioner as well as the Special Deputy Commissioner to take back the lake land and an allot alternative land for us. We want them to allot the land as early as possible,” Deepak Khurana said.It is also learnt that the then Chairman of Task Force for Recovery of Public Land and its Protection V Balasubramanian had also objected to the allotment of lake land to a private organisation.M K Aiyappa, Deputy Commissioner, Bangalore Urban, made it clear that no government official was authorised to allot a lake land to any organisation.“I will look into the matter. I will revoke the allotment order and recover the four acres and 18 guntas of land. Allotment of lake land to anyone is illegal,” said Aiyappa.When asked about the seven-moth delay to recover the land, “I will look into the matter,” he stated.