New layout planned, sites to be auctioned   MDA eyes Rs. 400 crore revenue

Mysuru: In its first major eviction drive held this morning with Police support, Mysuru Development Authority (MDA) reclaimed a total of 8.28 acres of prime land in Basavanahalli village, adjacent to Outer Ring Road, valued at around Rs. 150 crore. Encroachers were evicted and the unauthorised structures were demolished during the operation.

With the eviction process completed, MDA plans to develop a residential layout on the reclaimed land and auction the sites. This auction is expected to generate a revenue of  Rs. 300 crore to Rs. 400 crore, MDA Commissioner K.R. Rakshith told Star of Mysore.

Ahead of the eviction, MDA Secretary Prasanna Kumar, who is also the Competent Officer for Evictions, issued an official notice to Police personnel and other officials and circulated information about the planned operation to all concerned parties.

The 8.28 acres in question — comprising 4.36 acres in Survey No. 108 and 3.92 acres in Survey No. 109 on either side of the Outer Ring Road — were originally acquired in 1991 by the then Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), now renamed MDA, for developing the Vijayanagar 4th Stage Layout.

Legal tangle

However, the land was embroiled in legal disputes for years. MUDA had issued a preliminary notification on Dec. 23,

1991 and a final notification on Dec. 10, 1992, to acquire the land. A general award was passed on Aug. 6, 1994 and compensation of Rs. 4,55,506 was deposited in the City Civil Court on Mar. 5, 2002.

Despite this, land-owners challenged the acquisition, arguing that the project had not been implemented even after the final notification and as such, the land must be returned to them. They first approached the City Civil Court, which ruled in favour of MDA. The land-owners then filed a writ petition in the High Court seeking de-notification and return of the land.

High Court ruling

Recently, the High Court ruled in favour of MDA, stating that the entire 8.28 acre land belongs to the Authority since compensation had already been paid and the original owners have no claim to reclaim it. However, the Court directed that incentive sites may be given to the original land-owners once the residential layout is formed, but the entire parcel cannot be returned.

Following the High Court order, a MDA Zonal Office-3 report confirmed that two houses had been built on the acquired land and that gravel and timber had been dumped illegally. As these constructions were unauthorised, MDA conducted eviction as per a 2016 Government circular.

Today’s eviction drive was carried out between 6 am and 10.30 am with Police protection, using three earth movers, three tractors and over 20 MDA staff. As they were aware of the impending eviction, the land-owners had gathered over 15 elderly men and women on the site in an attempt to stall the operation on humanitarian grounds.

Over 50 women Police personnel were deployed, who convinced the occupants to vacate peacefully after a brief verbal confrontation where the land-owners pleaded for more time, but the MDA officials stood firm.

MDA Commissioner Rakshith told SOM, “We have acted strictly in accordance with the High Court’s directions. Fencing will begin immediately and tenders will soon be called for developing this prime land into a residential layout. Once ready, the sites will be auctioned and we expect to generate revenue between Rs. 300 crore and Rs. 400 crore for MDA.”

The eviction operation was overseen by MDA Superintending Engineer (SE) Muralidhar, Executive Engineers (EEs) Mahesh and Nagesh, Assistant Executive Engineers (AEEs) Mohan, Sunitha and Sampath, DCP (Law and Order) M. Muthuraju, Vijayanagar Inspector S.D. Suresh Kumar and the supporting staff.