Kannada actor Ganesh has recently received conditional permission from the Karnataka High Court to start building on his land, which is located in the eco-sensitive Bandipur neighbourhood of the Chamarajanagar district. The outcome of the ongoing case’s final judgement will affect this decision. On September 1, a single-judge court led by Justice Krishna Dixit issued this directive.
When the high court ordered Ganesh to reply to a notice sent by the forest department in August, the legal saga officially began. Concerns regarding purported building activities on his property—activities that apparently entailed the use of earthmoving equipment—were raised by this notice. Ganesh was also given protection from any coercive proceedings during this time by the court.
During the court hearings, Ganesh claimed that the primary construction on his property was the setting up of temporary fencing and columns. He made it obvious that there was no long-term development strategy in place and that earthmoving equipment was only employed to clean the property so that trees and other vegetation could be planted there.
On September 1, he persisted in insisting that he should be allowed to carry on with the construction, citing the adjacent existence of permanent structures as grounds. He referenced a Supreme Court ruling in support of the legality of temporary structures under such conditions.
The actor was given permission to continue construction by the bench after taking these reasons into consideration, but with the important caveat that he would have to leave the building if it was finally determined to be of a permanent character. The fate of Ganesh’s construction project within the eco-sensitive zone would depend on how the case is resolved in the end.