Karnataka High Court Says Reassigned Tank Land Losing Water-Body Character Needs No Buffer

The Karnataka High Court has ruled that land once entered as a tank, which has completely lost its water-body features and been officially reassigned for public and governmental purposes, cannot be treated by planning authorities as a functional tank.

Recorded on November 7, 2026, the decision arose in proceedings over change of land use in Karnataka involving former tank-classified parcels. The mandatory tank bund buffer zone for a functional tank cannot be imposed on land in that position, the court said.

Buffer cannot survive reassignment

The test, the court said, is whether the land still retains water-body characteristics at the relevant time. Complete loss of those characteristics removes the basis for treating the parcel as a living tank for planning control. That factual position was tied by the court to an official act of reassignment for public and governmental purposes.

Such official reassignment fixes the present legal character of the land, the court said. The reassignment relied upon must be statutory in nature, according to the order. The reassignment in question was described as valid.

Planning authorities cannot disregard that valid statutory action and fall back on the older tank classification alone. Nor can they demand compliance with buffer restrictions that apply only to a functional tank, the court said. Building and land-use decisions on former tank lands must therefore proceed on the reassigned status rather than on a historical tank entry.

On the clash with later planning instruments, the court said a subsequent Master Plan cannot annul valid statutory re-assignments of land. The later plan does not wipe out the legal effect of the earlier official reassignment for public purposes, according to the court. The same protection applies where the reassignment was for governmental purposes, the court said.

The two limits operate together, the court said. Loss of water-body character plus official reassignment bars treatment as a functional tank, while the bar on annulment by a later Master Plan preserves the reassignment. Planning authorities must apply both parts when considering approvals on such parcels.