Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Mar 13: In a significant development, the state High Court has said that the play ground measuring 6.16, located near Kadri Park in the city, around which the management of Padua High School has erected a compound wall, belongs to the government. It has held that the High School authorities were not in order in building the compound wall.

The district deputy commissioner had given conditional sanction for using the said land as play ground for the students of the High School. Recently, the management of the school had built a compound wall around the play ground, making the area inaccessible to the general public. A local man, Udaya, had filed public interest litigation in the state High Court, challenging the action of the High School management. The High Court division bench comprising Justice V Gopal Gowda and Justice B S Patil had stayed the construction of the building in the said ground.

The High Court has observed that the rights transfer certificate of the land in question stands in the name of the government. The two-member division bench of the state High Court has said that the school’s action in rigging a bore well in the land, constructing of the compound wall and digging trenches for laying foundation for a building there, is illegal.

Advocates Dilraj Rohit Sequeira and High Court advocate, Rajesh Rao Kumble had appeared on behalf of the petitioners.