Owners can’t be forced to relinquish land free of cost for road widening as per master plan: Karnataka High Court

Key points

• The High Court of Karnataka has held that civic authorities cannot compel private landowners to surrender a portion of their land free of cost for widening an existing road, solely on the basis of a proposal in the master plan for road widening under the Karnataka Town and Country Planning (KTCP) Act, 1961, by imposing such a condition for approving a building plan.
• If civic authorities require the land for road widening in public interest, the court said they must “resort to legally recognised statutory mechanisms, including acquisition proceedings under Section 69 of the KTCP Act read with the applicable land acquisition law, along with payment of due compensation, or grant of Transferable Development Rights wherever permissible under the applicable planning regulations.
• Free relinquishment without any form of consideration is not a legally available option.” Demand of GBA Justice Suraj Govindaraj passed the order while quashing the demand made by...