16-07-2025
Proposal to make OC mandatory for buildings on plots beyond 1200 sq. ft
In what comes as a relief from the logjam created by the implementation of the December 2024 Supreme Court order, which mandated an occupancy certificate (OC) for getting utility connections, concerned departments have now decided to propose to the Cabinet to bring in amendments to multiple laws of the State and notify rules to mandate OC for only buildings built on plots above 1200 sq. ft (30X40 ft) across the State.
This essentially means all buildings built on sites larger than 30X40 feet will have to take an OC, henceforth, which was not the case earlier in Bengaluru. Following the implementation of the Supreme Court, over 1 lakh applications seeking new power connections have been pending in the Bescom area alone, for want of an OC. Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister D.K. Shivakumar and Energy Minister K.J. George had said that the State government would soon introduce amendments to resolve the impasse.
'The problem was that, in none of our governing acts are there clear exemptions to any buildings from OC. However, in practice, since the utility service providers were also not insisting on it, our urban local bodies were not issuing OCs to all buildings, but insisted on it only for bigger buildings. Legally, it has been a grey area. It is impractical to insist on OCs in all buildings, so there needs to be amendments to our laws to clarify which buildings are exempted,' said a senior official.
The Urban Development Department (UDD) and Panchayat Raj Department met with other stakeholders on July 11, minutes of which are available with The Hindu. In the meeting, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) suggested that buildings built on plots up to 1200 sqft (ground + 2 floors or stilt +3 floors) can be exempted from obtaining OCs. The Panchayat Raj Department also concurred with the same exemption.
Neither the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976, nor the Karnataka Municipalities Act, 1964, has any provision for exemption for any buildings from availing an OC. The meeting has decided to propose amendments to these laws to bring this change.
Meanwhile, Section 241(7) of the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024 says: 'Government may notify the category of building which shall be exempted from obtaining occupancy certificate'. The meeting decided to notify of the exemption for buildings built on plots up to 1200 sq. ft. The Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department will also adopt the same exemption in its Model Building Byelaws.
