SC has asked the CJI to decide if a larger bench should hear Karnataka’s plea against the Rs 3,011.66 crore TDR order. The state questioned compensation for 15 acres when appeals on 472 acres are still pending.
New Delhi: Today, On May 27, the Supreme Court of India referred to the Chief Justice of India an important legal matter raised by the State of Karnataka. The state filed an application questioning a Supreme Court direction that ordered the release of Transferable Development Rights (TDR) certificates worth over Rs 3,000 crore to the legal heirs of the former Mysuru royal family.
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This TDR compensation was directed for a small portion of land 15 acres and 17.5 guntas—acquired by the government for widening Ballari and Jayamahal roads in Bengaluru, which is part of the larger Bangalore Palace Grounds.
A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Datta forwarded the matter to the Chief Justice of India, B.R. Gavai, to consider administratively whether a larger Bench of three judges should hear this matter.
This came after a Division Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and Aravind Kumar, on May 22, had already passed an order directing the State of Karnataka to issue the TDR certificates.
In the hearing held on May 27, Justices Kant and Datta raised a crucial legal question which had also been asked earlier by Chief Justice B.R. Gavai on May 26.
They asked whether one Division Bench of the Supreme Court can review or overturn a decision already passed by another Division Bench of the Supreme Court.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appeared for the State of Karnataka. Initially, he agreed to file another application requesting a hearing before a larger Bench. At the same time, he asked the Bench to keep the current application pending.
On the other side, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi and Advocate T. Harish Kumar strongly opposed Karnataka’s application.
They said that the application filed by the state was a misuse of the legal process. They stated that it was
“sheer abuse of the law.”
Responding to this, Mr. Kapil Sibal firmly said,
“How can TDR for Rs 3,011.66 crore be given for just 15 acres of land when appeals challenging the acquisition of the larger extent of land measuring 472 acres under the Bangalore Palace (Acquisition and Transfer) Act, 1996 are still pending here?”
He also raised concerns about the way the court had passed directions in a parallel contempt proceeding, forcing the state to release TDR certificates worth Rs 3,011.66 crore.
He pointed out that the same land was originally acquired under the Bangalore Palace (Acquisition and Transfer) Act, 1996, which had fixed the total compensation for all 472 acres of land at just Rs 11 crore.
He added,
“How can TDR for Rs 3,011.66 crore be given for just 15 acres of land… when the BPAT Act 1996 was also upheld by the High Court of Karnataka?”
Further, Mr. Sibal argued that the court had wrongly used a provision from the Karnataka Town and Country Planning (KTCP) Act, 1961—specifically Section 14B—to order the TDR compensation.
He mentioned that this section was added to the Act only in 2004, and questioned whether such a provision could be applied to a land acquisition that had taken place way back in 1996.
In his words,
“How can a provision introduced into the KTCP Act in 2004 be retrospectively applied to set aside an acquisition dating back to 1996?”
This complex legal case has now been placed before the Chief Justice of India to decide whether a larger bench should examine the matter.
CASE TITLE:
SRI SRIKANTA D N WADIYAR (D) BY LR. Versus STATE OF KARNATAKA AND ORS.,C.A. No. 3303/1997
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