Koramangala Passport Seva Kendra stays: High Court rejects plea seeking demolition

The Karnataka High Court has dismissed a PIL seeking demolition of the Passport Seva Kendra in Koramangala, ruling that the land was lawfully allotted to the Centre and not designated as a playground.

The Karnataka High Court has turned down a public interest litigation that called for the demolition of the Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) in Koramangala and sought the return of the land on which the facility has been built. The plea was moved by the Dr B R Ambedkar Youth Social and Cultural Welfare Trust, which alleged that the structure stands on land meant to be used as a playground.

According to the petitioner, the Passport Seva Kendra occupies around 1.3 acres that was earlier identified as a playfield and was later diverted for central government use from a different site located roughly 1.5 kilometres away. The trust cited the Karnataka Parks, Play-Fields and Open Spaces (Preservation and Regulation) Act, arguing that land reserved for parks or playgrounds cannot be repurposed.

The petition also claimed that the land, situated in Koramangala village under Begur hobli, had long served as a recreational space for schoolchildren and residents of nearby neighbourhoods. It stated that the area, already facing a shortage of open spaces, lost public access after the central government constructed a compound wall around the property. The trust further mentioned that a First Information Report (FIR) had been registered over the issue.

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In response, the Central Government maintained that the petition was founded on incorrect land records. It informed the court that a government order issued on November 19, 1994, which the petitioner relied upon, contained inaccuracies in the survey numbers. These errors, the Centre said, were rectified through an amendment notification dated January 25, 2023.

The Centre clarified that the three-acre land parcel provided for the Passport Seva Kendra was owned by the Public Works Department (PWD) and was lawfully transferred to the Ministry of External Affairs for setting up a Regional Passport Office.

A division bench led by Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C M Poonacha dismissed the PIL, noting that the core assumption on which the petition was based no longer survived in light of the amended government order.

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While recognising concerns about the steady reduction of open spaces in Bengaluru, the court ruled that the central government could not be prevented from using land that had been legally allotted to it. The bench also pointed out that the petitioner had not produced any zonal plans to prove that the land was officially classified as a playground or open area.

Stating that the corrected government notification had removed the basis of the challenge, the court concluded that the central government’s occupation of the land was lawful and undisputed.