Bengaluru: There seems to be no end for the confusion over granting land for the construction of Kannada film actor Vishnuvardhan’s memorial. The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday, stayed the Government Order, issued on September 18, 2015, granting two acres of land for the memorial.
Justice Anand Byrareddyy passed the interim order on a petition filed by B. Ganesh and B. Srinivas, sons of late Kannada actor T.N. Balakrishna. The government, in the 1970s, had granted 20 acres of land to actor Balakrishna at Mylasandra village in Kengeri hobli for construction of Abhiman Studio for serving the needs of the film industry.
It was alleged in the petition that one of the petitioners, B. Ganesh, was forced by State government authorities to sign a letter to give consent for handing over two acres of land, from the present 10 acres remaining with the Abhiman Studio, to the government for allotting the said land to Vishnuvardhan memorial.
Also, it was alleged in the petition that the GO showed one of the petitioners, Srinivas, as dead and the authorities had obtained signature from his son for the letter of consent for relinquishing two acres of land in favour of the government.
Pointing out that Balakrishna’s daughter, Geeta Bali, petitioner-son Ganesh and S. Karthik, son of petitioner Srinivas, had signed the consent letter, dated July 23, 2015, the petition claimed that the consent letter was invalid as it was not in proper order.
The petitioners claimed that the government adopted this “coercive” method to avoid paying compensation to the petitioners, and after making “futile” attempts to take back the entire 10 acres of land in the guise of alleged violation of conditions imposed while granting the land in 1970s for construction of the studio.
(Inputs from The Hindu)
