Report of the Justice Patil Committee regarding privatisation of lakes, dated 10th Oct 2011
In a significant development, the Committee appointed under the Chairmanship of Justice Mr. N. K. Patil, Judge of the Karnataka High Court and Chairman High Court Legal Services Committee, in response to the Public Interest Litigation by Environment Support Group challenging the privatisation of management and rehabilitation of lakes in Bangalore (WP 817/2008), has strongly recommended that ““private sector participation solely based on consequential commercial interest” is not a desirable model” (emphasis in original). The Committee was constituted by the Principal Division Bench of the High Court to formulate a long term plan to conserve and manage lakes of Bangalore, and involved top officials of 9 agencies connected with lake management. This objective was achieved in the formulation of a comprehensive plan for the “Preservation of Lakes in the City of Bangalore” with inputs from Petitioners and the Respondents under the Chair of Justice Patil. This report was submitted to the High Court Principal Bench and was comprehensively accepted per its order of 3rd March 2011 and implementation is being monitored quarterly by the Court. As the Court observed then, the report ”satisfies all the prayers made at the hands of the petitioners in the instant writ petition, except the one pertaining to leaseholders, who have made construction in the periphery of the lake, or are in the process of making such construction” referring to lakes already privatised.