Lakes of Bengaluru: Haze on ownership pushes Garvebhavipalya lake into a stinking mess

Residents around the lake say they have not seen water in the lake for a decade. “I have not seen a drop of the water in the lake for a decade. All one can say is that the land is used for dumping garbage, and industrial effluents can easily flow into the lake through the storm-water drains connected to the lake,” said Ramesh K, who lives nearby.

An ownership battle

In 2014, the Karnataka High Court directed the special deputy commissioner of Bengaluru to restore the lake’s ownership to a family. According to the court order, one Muniswamappa bought 13.21 acres of the land in survey number 41 in Hongasandra in 1943. In revenue records, the land was consequently mutated in his name. After Muniswamappa’s death in 1974, his family got the records changed to their name as landholders.

In 1995, Muniswamappa’s family approached the court claiming that the revenue department had declared the government the owner of the land. It alleged that the special deputy commissioner had directed the tehsildar to delete the entries in the name of the owners. The officer also directed that the government be mentioned as the owner as the area was found to be a lake.

The boundaries of the lake are not fenced and nothing has been done to stop the inflow of sewage-laden water. (Express Photo by Jithendra M)

The owners were allegedly not notified of the order and they approached the court, which struck down the special deputy commissioner’s order in 1996.

In 2009, the then special deputy commissioner initiated an inquiry. The state government argued in the court that it issued a notification declaring the land to be a lake in 1985.

The petitioners produced the sale deeds of the land in 1943. In August 2014, the court ordered the special deputy commissioner to reinstate the owners’ name in landholding records.

Two years later, in 2016, the government said it would appeal against the court order and take the land into its custody.

While there is no clarity if the government has appealed against the court’s order, a senior official from the civic body lakes department said, “We do not know if the government appealed against the court’s order. Ideally lakes are government properties. The lake was transferred to the BBMP and a few development works were supposed to be carried out in the lake at a cost of Rs 85 lakh. The drains passing through the lake were to be improved.”