The city corporations under the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) cannot impose new conditions for relinquishing lands for road widening for issuing Occupancy Certificates (OCs) when such conditions were not imposed at the time of granting licence for construction by approving building plans, said the High Court of Karnataka.

“The post facto conditions cannot be insisted upon, and there must be a specific provision (in the law) permitting the same if such conditions are to be sustained,” the court said.

Justice B.M. Shyam Prasad passed the order while allowing the petitions filed by K.N. Venugopal and another challenging the communication issued on July 1, 2026, by the Assistant Director, Town Planning, Mahadevapura Zone-1 of Bengaluru East City Corporation.

The communication has compelled the petitioners to relinquish 765.46 sq. m. of land free of cost to the corporation for grant of OC for the newly constructed building with a basement, ground floor and three upper floors on a land measuring 2,648.81 sq. m., for which the erstwhile Bruhat Bengaluru Mahangara Palike (BBMP) had approved the building plan in February 2024 and subsequently issued a commencement certificate.

It was stated in the communication that the property of the petitioners abuts a road, which is 24 metres in width but has to be widened to 45 metres in terms of the Revised Master Plan 2015, and the petitioners must execute the relinquishment deed. It asked the petitioners to get additional information, if required, from the Assistant Executive Engineer, TDR and Land Acquisition.

However, the court said that neither the erstwhile BBMP Act nor the present Greater Bengaluru Governance (GBG) Act contain provisions for such post facto condition.

“This court must observe that its attention is not drawn to any such provision in the BBMP Act for relinquishment of property for road widening as a condition for grant of sanction/approval for a new building, or a provision under the GBG Act permitting such insistence at the time of issuing the OC for a building constructed in terms of the sanction/approval under the BBMP Act,” the court observed.

Making it clear that a person cannot be denied the right to property without following the due process of law, a right under Article 300A of the Constitution of India, the court said that the petitioners’ request for an OC should be examined based on the conditions upon which the sanction for the plan was granted and the construction has been completed.

While directing the corporation to issue the OC without insisting on relinquishment deeds from the petitioners, provided they had put up construction as per the sanctioned plan within eight weeks, the court said that this would not give any equity for the petitioners if the authorities want to acquire a portion of their land for road widening as per the law.

Published - August 17, 2026 11:32 pm IST