Ashram buildings illegal

Jun 13, 2012 - Chandrashekar G |

Bengaluru

Tags:

Nithyananda

There’s more trouble in store for the self-proclaimed godman Nithyananda Swamy who has run away from his ashram and is being pursued by the police. Several buildings on his 42-acre estate at Kallugopanahalli may face the axe because they are illegal. Chief Minister D. V. Sadananda Gowda has ordered that the ashram be taken over, but several buildings on it are unauthorised. The Nithyananda Dhyanapeeta located at survey number 21/7 of Kallugopanahalli falls under the jurisdiction and the planning authority of the Bengaluru Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA).

According to highly placed sources, section 10 of the BMRDA Act makes it mandatory for the ashram authorities to obtain the building plan from the planning authority, but this was never done. The ashram has a multi-storied apartment complex with at least 50 units, nearly 20 cottages, about 20 independent houses and another multi-storied apartment which is under construction - all of them unauthorised.

“The government has all the power to initiate action against such unauthorised construction and raze down the structures. The BMRDA can issue notice to the authorities seeking a reply within a week. The notice will be pasted on the door of the ashram if there are no claimants for the notice. If the ashram authorities fail to respond or reply within the stipulated time, the BMRDA can

bulldoze the structure and recover the cost from the owner of the property,” said a source. The authority might also investigate Nithyananda's owning agriculture land and if he complies with the Karnataka Land Reforms Act. According to section 109 of this Act, a non agriculturist must obtain exemption for owning agricultural land.

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