Karnataka high court upholds Bengaluru water authority’s right to lay sewer lines on private land

Bengaluru: Karnataka high court has ruled that Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) can legally lay and maintain sewerage through private property without acquiring ownership of the land, provided it requires only a limited right of use.

However, Justice Suraj Govindaraj made it clear that the board must strictly follow the safeguards laid down in the BWSSB Act, including due procedure, minimising damage to property, and paying compensation for any loss caused to landowners.

The court upheld the constitutional validity of Sections 39, 76, 77 and 92 of the BWSSB Act while partly allowing two petitions filed by landowners challenging sewer lines laid through their properties.

The judge observed that the right granted to BWSSB under Section 77 to use private land for sewerage infrastructure does not automatically amount to compulsory acquisition of property. As a result, landowners are not entitled, as a matter of course, to compensation under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, merely because sewer lines pass beneath or across their land.

At the same time, the court held that where the impact of the sewer line substantially affects the utility, development potential, enjoyment, or value of a property, compensation must be assessed realistically based on the actual loss suffered by the owner. If the board’s use of the land effectively deprives the owner of normal enjoyment of the property, it would have to acquire the land under Section 127A of the Act, the judge said.

One of the petitions was filed by TN Chandrashekhara Gowda, who sought compensation for alleged soil erosion on 13 guntas of land in Hennur village and requested removal of sewer lines laid through the property. The second petition was filed by Jethronica and her son Joseph, who objected to the laying of 5ft-wide sewer pipes across their land in Nagawara without consent and sought market-value compensation under the 2013 land acquisition law.

After examining the provisions of the BWSSB Act, the court held that the statutory right of use contemplated under Section 77 may impose restrictions or inconvenience on a landowner but does not by itself amount to acquisition requiring market-value compensation in every case.

In Chandrashekhara Gowda’s case, the court directed a proper survey of the disputed land. It also ordered the competent BWSSB authority to assess and determine compensation, if any, payable to the petitioners for permanent or temporary damage caused by the laying, existence, maintenance, repair, or renewal of sewer lines. The exercise must be completed within four months.