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More woes for Cosmopolitan Club
Authorities tell management to restrict outsiders from accessing commercial facilities, including a shopping complex
S Kushala
kushala.satyanarayana@timesgroup.com
C osmopolitan Club has, in recent
times, been one of the most happen-
ing places in south Bangalore offer-
ing activities for all age groups —
entertainment, shopping and eating. But, the
party might soon come to an end with the
Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) ask-
ing the management to bar non-club mem-
bers from these commercial facilities that fetch
the club a substantial amount in rent.
The club in Jayanagar IIIrd Block has been
in the news for the wrong reasons after sub-
letting its premises to Amoeba bowling alley,
a coffee shop, a departmental store. It had
struck the deals with the departmental store
and bowling alley in October 2006. Nearby
residents have been complaining about the
traffic chaos that followed. Bylanes in the
vicinity are choked by the vehicles of cus-
tomers. The issue came up before the Lok
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Ayukta which in December 2010 asked the
BDA and BBMP to cancel various permissions
and licences issued to the club.
In his order, BDA commissioner Bharat Lal
Meena said, “The BDA has withdrawn the
approval given to Cosmopolitan Club for a
bowling alley, departmental store, coffee shop
etc on its premises. Such activities, even if per-
mitted, should be restricted to members.
Parking should be provided in the club prem-
ises to avoid traffic hassles in the vicinity. If
this order is violated, then the BDA will with-
draw its civic amenity site leased to the club
management.’’ A BBMP health officer said,
“Based on the BDA withdrawing its approvals,
we are considering cancelling health licences
of the restaurant and the departmental store.’’
STORY OF THE CLUB
BDA had allotted a civic amenity site to the
club in 1967 on a 30-year lease for ‘outdoor
activities’. The lease was subsequently extend-
ed up to June 2030 for a sum of Rs 1.28 lakh.
Over the years, ‘outdoor activities’ have come
- medical courses
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BangaloreMirror | FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2011
to include commercial activities. The club has
been pocketing upwards of Rs 10 lakh each
month in rentals from the commercial activi-
ties. Earlier, the club had been accused of glar-
ing violations in the building’s construction
and encroachment of adjacent land, which
was used for a tennis court. The management
subsequently applied for regularisation of the
same. The BDA gave its nod and asked the
management to pay Rs 4,44,82,200 towards
lease amount.
CLUB TRIES TO BUY TIME
Replying to the BDA’s order, Cosmopolitan
Club president S C Kari Gowda said, “The issue
is whether to allow outsiders to use the facili-
ties. It was the BDA that allowed the club to
sub-let our premises for commercial activities.
Based on the approval, we entered into these
agreements for huge amounts. We should be
permitted to function till the expiry of the
agreements.” According to him, the city’s 2005
master plan allows use of 20 per cent of a civic
amenity site for commercial activities.
Slab fee structure
will continue
for engineering,
Good news for students as govt
rejects Justice Padmaraj
committee’s recommendations
Bangalore Mirror Bureau
bmfeedback@indiatimes.com
H ere’s some good news for students
planning to enter professional
courses this year. As in the previous
year, the state government is likely to fol-
low the ‘different slab’ fee structure for
engineering and medical courses.
Speaking to Bangalore Mirror, higher edu-
cation minister Dr V S Acharya said, “We
will be entering into a consensual agree-
ment with private college managements.
We will not adopt the differential fee struc-
ture for individual colleges based on the
Justice Padmaraj Committee report. Instead,
as in the previous year, we will have one fee
structure for students clearing CET and
another for those going through COMED
or other private college managements.”
The minister’s statements drew curtains
on the confusion over the fee structure
row. Last year, it was announced that the
committee report would be taken into
consideration, something that would not
have worked in favour of students.
Meanwhile, Acharya said he would speak
to the press on Friday to clear the air over
this year’s seat sharing ratio. “We are yet to
take a decision on the seat sharing ratio with
private college managements. As we have
already announced the CET dates, we will
see to it that things are sorted out without
disturbing the CET schedule”, he added.
Meanwhile, a senior officer from the
Medical Education department said students
need not worry about seat matrix, fee struc-
ture and exam dates as the government is in
the process of sorting out the issues.
“Consensual agreement came up for
approval in the Supreme Court on Feb 14
and 15. But due to some technical reasons,
it was not approved. We are confident that
SC will approve it by next week,” he said.
4
WEEK’S TOP
MANU PRASAD 5
TECH WRAP FROM THE WORLD WIDE WEB
liked/hated this column? write to
bmfeedback@indiatimes.com
TWITTER STATUS UPDATE
There were several reports of a race between Google
and Facebook to acquire Twitter at a valuation of
$10 billion, but co-founder Biz
Stone has denied them. Twitter
was valued at $3.7 billion last
December and also received $80
million funding from
Andreessen Horowitz group last
week. With estimated revenue of
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planned price hike in its most consistent revenue
source — Promoted Trends, and a new Translation
Center website that recruits volunteers to help
translate its websites and mobile apps into more
languages, there's much chirping going on.
TABLET WARS
Even as iPad 2 — faster, lighter, thinner, and
equipped with a front facing camera and more
memory, is reportedly in produc-
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iPad 3 would also be released in
autumn this year. With the loom-
ing Android invasion in the form
of Motorola Xoom and Samsung
Galaxy (both running
Honeycomb), HTC launching
Flyer (running Gingerbread), RIM’s Playbook, and
HP announcing the webOS based Palm TouchPad,
there is reason for the world's most valuable tech
company to shift another gear.
INTEL INSIGHT
Only six months after confirming that MeeGo, its
joint venture with Intel, was off to a good start,
Nokia announced a huge
strategic alliance with
Microsoft’s Windows
Mobile and affirmed that
it aims to beat Android, its
other suitor. Apparently
Nokia had also considered a partnership with RIM.
Meanwhile, Intel, which had tried to underplay this
development, announced on Thursday that there
would be an Intel-powered smartphone in the mar-
ket by year end, but maintained that multiple
devices like tablets, netbooks, set-top boxes and
automotive systems would drive growth.
FACEBOOK ‘HARDWARE’
Earlier this week, Facebook announced a SIM card,
built by Gemalto, for GSM mobiles. It brings social
networking to non-smartphones
and provides text-menu-based
interaction with Facebook to any
GSM-compatible handset even
without a data plan. Oberthur
Technologies is another compa-
ny offering social networking and
IM services via SIM-based appli-
cations, supporting Facebook,
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with a dedicated Facebook button.
TO SUBSCRIBE
Just a couple of days after Apple announced its sub-
scription service in the App Store, allowing pub-
lishers to set the price and time
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to manage it from their iTunes
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mobile apps. Google plans to take only a 10 per cent
cut from publishers as opposed to Apple's 30 per
cent. Also in Apple's case, user data will be shared
with publishers only if the users explicitly choose to
share it, but Google will share the customer infor-
mation it collects with publishers.