Karnataka high court to govt: Do you care about nature at all?

The high court on Monday questioned the state government about whether it meant to preserve nature at all.The court was hearing a case challenging the alleged encroachment of land on a tank bed at Govindarajanagar by state housing minister V Somanna. 

Petitioners Narayanappa and others moved the court raising suspicion about the intentions of the housing minister, who accorded Rs27 lakh from his MLA funds for the construction of a school on survey no 380 at Govindarajanagar.

The petitioners alleged that this was done without proper government sanction.The state government counsel contended that the land had lost its properties as a tank bed, and the tank could thus not be rejuvenated.

The BBMP counsel said that the area occupied by the school was only one acre.The division bench of the high court, headed by chief justice JS Khehar, observed that over 180 tanks in the city are being ‘developed’.

“We will demolish the construction on this particular tank. Do you like to preserve nature or not?” the bench asked, wondering if the state cared at all for generations still to come.

Adjourning the case on Monday, the division bench clubbed it with the hearing of a petition challenging privatisation of city lakes.