A Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) counsel informed the high court that out of 5,000 PGs in east Bengaluru, nearly 2,500 are run without a proper licence, plan sanction or fire safety requirements. Bengaluru: Nearly half of private paying guest accommodations (PGs) in east Bengaluru, the city’s tech corridor, are operating illegally.
The judge directed the matter to be listed again on Sept 28 for consideration.
Notices are being issued to all of them, caveats will be filed both in HC and the jurisdictional civil courts, and efforts will be made to pass orders at the earliest after providing an opportunity of hearing to the concerned, and thereafter, these paying guest accommodations would be closed, and if necessary, demolition activities would be taken up, the counsel said. In a detailed interim order, Justice Suraj Govindaraj issued a series of directions on the regulation, inspection and safety of PGs across the city after hearing petitions filed by owners of such accommodations. The judge directed the authorities to adopt a continuing system of identification, inspection, compliance and enforcement rather than treating licensing as a one-time exercise. The local authorities have to identify all PG accommodations to ascertain whether they possess a valid licence or not. The judge made it clear that if there are any violations by any of the paying guest accommodation owners or operators and no action is taken by the concerned officers, they would be personally liable for any untoward incident which may happen.