Occupants of now demolished illegal sheds in encroached government land in Kogilu layout not shifting to temporary shelters, govt. tells Karnataka HC

The State government on Thursday told the High Court of Karnataka that occupants of the now demolished illegal sheds on the encroached government land in Kogilu layout are not shifting to temporary shelters provided to them in four community halls and a few of them were coming to the shelters only to have food.

Those who had put up illegal constructions on encroached land are continuing to reside in the same land by putting up new temporary sheds, even though the authorities have made arrangements for around 240 persons in the community halls, the government said.

State Advocate-General K. Shashi Kiran Shetty gave this information to a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C.M. Poonacha, during the hearing of a PIL petition filed by Zaiba Tabassum, 28, Rehana, 25, and Areefa Begum, 49, who were among the persons evicted from the two colonies.

When counsel for the petitioners claimed that there are no proper facilities in the community halls, the A-G denied the claim while stating that the authorities would present a video footage of the status of community halls before the Bench. The A-G also turned down the plea by the petitioners’ advocate for supplying food at the site of the demolished structures.

After May 2025

Earlier, the A-G said that a large number of illegal temporary sheds mushroomed post May 2025 as satellite images disclose that 70 of them surfaced after then. There were no structures in this land in 2013 as it was a abandoned quarry pit on government land.

Pointing out that after the closure of quarrying activities, the pit was used as a landfill for municipal solid waste after it was handed over to the erstwhile Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike during 2014-16, Mr. Shetty said satellite images show that a few temporary structures were illegally put up on this landfill, which is not suitable for human living.

Of the total 262 illegal sheds on this land, 44 were built during October 2022, 47 during May 2024, and 70 during May 2025, it has been pointed out in the written statement filed by Bengaluru Sold Waste Management Ltd (BSWML) while stating that remaining 101 structures had come up between 2014-2021 in a phased manner as per the satellite images.

The claim of the petitioners that residents of demolished illegal structures were residing in the two illegal colonies for about 30 years is blatantly false, the BSWML has stated.

“The contention of the petitioners that more than 3,000 persons belonging to “Darwes’ community were dispossessed and tendered homeless is wholly false, misleading and deliberately exaggerated,” BSMWL has stated. It pointed out that about 167 illegal and temporary structures existed on the land at the time of carrying out demolition driver.

‘Visited many times’

Denying the allegation that the illegal structures were demolished without any intimation, the BSWML has said that the officials had visited these colonies multiple times since November 2025 and cautioned the occupants of these structures.