Bengaluru: In an apparent U-turn, the state government petitioned the Karnataka High court that 11 acres and 20 guntas of land situated in Pattandur Agrahara Lake (Survey Number 54 area) in Whitefield had been fraudulently occupied by Late Munivenkatappa and his family.
The issue of the ownership of the land came to the fore when the illegal dumping issue gained momentum in 2017. The government had never challenged the private property claim on the land until now.
The High Court duly accepted state government’s petition accusing Late Munivekatappa of illegally encroaching the lake by converting the public property into a private one.
Recent historical findings show that the Pattandur Agrahara Lake was built by Rajendra Chola in 1043 AD to commemorate the anniversary of his dynasty. An inscription recovered from the area recently mentions the origins of the lake 900 years ago.
The family of Munivekatappa has been claiming that he had bought the land under a registered sale deed in December 1960. After his death in 2001, the land was divided among the surviving members of his family and they are now fighting a legal battle for the land.
The land in question has come under heavy scrutiny ever since the residents and activists started complaining in September 2017 about civic bodies including the BBMP and BMRCL of dumping waste in the area bordering the lake. The activists and residents claimed that the land was a part of the lake bed area. The historical maps of the Revenue Department also show the area as a lake bed.
Fed up by the official apathy, the residents and activists agitating for saving the Pattandur Agrahara Lake and its surroundings, filed a separate petition under the aegis of the Pattandur Agrahara Residents Welfare Association seeking removal of encroachments. They claimed that the lake could never be revived if dumping continued.
Only a day after this, the government filed another petition on June 19 accusing Munivenkatappa of fraudulently encroaching Pattandur Agrahara Lake.
