Karnataka’s response sought on plea against military memorial

NEW DELHI - The Supreme Court Monday sought the Karnataka government’s response on a petition challenging the proposed National Military Memorial to come up at Indira Gandhi Musical Fountain Park in Bangalore.

Issuing the notice, returnable in four weeks, the vacation bench of Justice R.M. Lodha and Justice A.K. Patnaik, however, declined to order status quo.

The apex court’s order came during the hearing of a petition by Krishna Apartment Owners Welfare Association, opposing the proposal to set up the memorial at the park on the grounds that the state government had no powers to change the land use of the park.

The association contended that under the Karnataka Government Parks (Preservation) Act, 1975, the state government does not have the power to permit any building, construction or change in use of land in government parks, such as the Indira Gandhi park.

Appearing for the Karnataka government, senior counsel Nageshwar Rao said there was no violation of the law because there was no transfer of land, which would continue to remain with the state government. He said the memorial would be managed by a trust, headed by the chief minister.

At this point, Justice Lodha said that howsoever laudable the goal may be but it has to be in conformity with the laws. “No doubt you are doing a great job, it has to be in conformity with the statutory requirements,” he said.

When Rao insisted that there would be no transfer of land, the court pointed out that the park was managed by the state horticulture department and asked if it was going to manage the memorial too. The mere fact that the memorial was going to be managed by the trust under the home department clearly implies that there would be a transfer of land.

The court also wanted Rao to address the question if the horticulture department could construct their own office building in the said park or any other park covered under the 1975 act.

When the court wondered if the situation was not akin to one that prevailed in Lucknow over the construction of memorials dedicated to icons of the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party, Rao said the two were radically different.

In the case of Uttar Pradesh, constructions were made without approval and then the plea was taken that since hundreds of crores of rupees have been spent on them, their demolition should not be ordered, he said, adding the in the case of National Military Memorial, everything has been decided before embarking on the project.