BDA Can Issue Modified Sanction Plan Permitting Construction Of Additional Towers On Land Where Construction Has Already Come Up: Karnataka HC

The Karnataka High Court has held that Bangalore Development Authority has the jurisdiction to issue a modified sanction plan for the construction of additional towers subsequent to the development of an Apartment complex and sale of apartments and undivided share in common areas, as per the earlier plan, even when the area is now covered under the City Municipal Corporation limits. A single-judge bench of Justice M I Arun dismissed a petition filed by the H.M. Tambourine Apartment Owners Association which had questioned the power of the authority to sanction a modified plan based on the maximum floor area ratio, without taking into consideration the area already sold in favour of the individual apartment owners and further, the property is now within the jurisdiction of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike and BDA does not have the power to sanction the modified plan. It was stated that BDA is the planning Authority as contemplated under the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act, 1961 and it has jurisdiction to issue necessary modified plan and the same has been issued in accordance with law taking into consideration maximum floor area ratio available for construction on the entire property. Thus the bench said that as the counsel for the BDA has submitted that the Government Order dated 07.11.2015 pertains only to new plan sanction and not to modified plans, the same is construed accordingly by all the authorities concerned and that the building being constructed is part of the already existing building and not a new building, it has to be held that the judgments of the Apex Court relied upon by the petitioners do not apply in the instant case, as it pertained to a case wherein the buildings being constructed were construed as a separate building.