It is a playground that has been a cradle to many an international athlete. But the Mount Carmel College playground, spread over 11,333sqft Vasantnagar, has turned into a battleground between the college authorities and the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA).
While the BDA staked claim over the playground, the college said that it held a valid lease for the land.
On Monday, the issue reached the Karnataka high court. Justice S Abdul Nazeer stayed twoBDA notices, dated July 31, 2009 and November 12 2009, which had demanded that the institution pay a penalty of Rs2,68,63,041 as it had held on to the ground, though the lease for the same had ended in 1988.
The Mount Carmel College had challenged the two BDA notices in the high court.
The original lease for the playground was struck between the erstwhile City Improvement Trust Board (CITB) and Mount Carmel College in 1958.
The CITB had leased out the land to the college for a period of 99 years for an annual rent of Re1.
The BDA was created as a successor to the CITB in 1976 and civic amenity rules were enacted in 1989.
According to the new civic amenity rules, all BDA leases for civic amenity sites had to be for a period of 30 years’ duration.
Subsequent to this, the BDA claimed that the lease over the MCC playground had ended in 1988 and issued notices to the college demanding payment of the penalty amount as the college was holding on to the ground even after the end of the lease period.
Mount Carmel College counsel Sampat Anand Shetty submitted in the court that according to Section 76 of the BDA Act, 1976, the original commitments of the CITB had to be honoured and hence the BDA was not entitled for the penalty it had claimed.
He said the college was well within its rights to continue to pay a rent of Re1 per annum as was specified in the original lease agreement.
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