Karnataka Cabinet clears move to regularise unauthorised properties in Greater Bengaluru Authority area

Indian Express

4 days ago

In a bid to regularise buildings and layouts in the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) limits, the Karnataka Cabinet Thursday decided to issue Khatas to all properties in the city, subject to conditions.
Addressing a news conference following the Cabinet meeting, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil said that those who do not have a Khata will be issued the same by the government. 'When giving it, we will specify the parameters. If they (property owners) comply with the parameters, then B-khata will be issued,' he said, noting that a detailed order regarding it would be issued soon.
Those satisfying a list of eight parameters specified by the government will be issued B-Khata, he said. For a property to receive A-Khata, there will be 11 conditions.
'If you comply with it, you will get A-Khata,' he said. While A-Khata is a perfect certificate for a property, B-Khata certificates were issued for properties that had 'some lacunae', according to the minister.
According to the Cabinet note related to the subject, 'the unauthorised constructions and unplanned development has led to issuance of lakhs of 'B Khatas' which also need to be regulated and controlled.'
The concept of issuing B-Khata for unauthorised properties was introduced in 2009.
At present, B-Khata property remains outside the purview of the Karnataka Town & Country Planning (KTCP) Act, 1961. The constructions in B-Khata remain unregulated and resulting in gross violations, which lead to unsafe buildings, the note said.
'In recent years, the buildings in Bengaluru which collapsed during rains were found to be ones constructed on 'B Khata' and without control and regulation of the KTCP Act, 1961. While such a property, practically, gets all the facilities such as roads, drains and other civic support but remain outside the regulation and control of the KTCP Act 1961. Therefore, there is a need to bring even the B-Khata properties into the control and regulation of the KTCP Act 1961,' it said.
The proposal, according to the note, was aimed at 'bringing discipline and regulation to unregulated and illegal constructions and layout formations which not only clutter and choke Bengaluru city but cause endless misery to citizens.'
The Cabinet also approved the parameters specified to issue A-Khata to buildings proposed on vacant sites which have B-Khata, to buildings already constructed on unauthorised layout/land/sites either without any Khata or B-Khata from BBMP, and multi-unit flats constructed in violation of various Acts on a single plot without a Khata, among others.
In another decision, the Cabinet decided to withdraw denotification of land in 29 cases and to initiate action against the officials and staff behind the order. This was in connection with the lands acquired by the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA), for which primary and final notification was issued by the government.
The denotification pertained to around 56 acres of land. 'After the final notification (for land acquisition) is issued, there is no provision to drop the land. Still, they were denotified,' the minister said.