BENGALURU: The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday fixed a timeline for auction of abandoned/unclaimed vehicles parked on public roads and footpaths.
Accordingly, vehicles older than 15 years should be auctioned in 30 days. Vehicles that are 1 to 5 years old can be auctioned after three months. Vehicles that are 5 to 15 years old can be auctioned after two months.
A division bench of Chief Justice PS Dinesh Kumar and Justice TG Shivashankare Gowda passed this order after hearing Advocate General (AG) Shashikiran Shetty’s submission to a petition filed by Prashanth Rao on the issue of encroachment of footpaths.
Meanwhile, an affidavit filed by MN Anucheth, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Bengaluru, stated that a meeting was held on January 31 with BBMP officials on identifying and disposing of abandoned/unclaimed vehicles and identifying places where such vehicles could be kept. It stated that vehicles which have not been moved from footpaths for more than 15 days will be treated as abandoned. Later, they will be taken to places identified to keep them.
BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath also filed an affidavit and informed the court that palike officials will conduct periodical special drives to clear encroachments on footpaths of 609.89 km arterial roads and 734.45 km sub-arterial roads.
The chief commissioner submitted that town vending committees have been formed in eight zones of the BBMP to conduct a survey of street vendors and identify vending zones, restricted vending zones and no-vending zones. ID cards will be provided to street vendors identified by the BBMP.
He submitted that the BBMP will make efforts to ensure that vending zones and restricted vending zones are not far away from residential areas. Till such zones are identified, it will ensure that street vendors are given space to sell their goods without disturbing people’s movement.
