The Karnataka government has proposed regularisation of properties in capital city Bengaluru by issuing legal documents — khatas — and property identification numbers (PID) to owners. While discussions on this have been on for a long time, on May 5, former civic chief commissioner Gaurav Gupta said an executive order was yet to be issued by the government.
This comes around a month after Chief Secretary P Ravi Kumar on April 13 recommended that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) issue khatas and PIDs to all property owners in the city.
Currently, there are two types of properties — ‘A’ Khata and ‘B’ Khata.
What is ‘A’ khata and ‘B’ khata?
‘A’ khata properties are those with genuine documents and are verified by state agencies. The ‘A’ khata document was issued to property owners till 2008.
In 2008, the BBMP stopped issuing ‘A’ khata to properties which were in violation of bylaws. Instead, it began maintaining a ‘B’ register, which came to list ‘B’ khata properties.
‘B’ khata properties have anomalies in documentation. The list also includes properties in violation of bylaws, and buildings constructed without building plan approval. There are over six lakh ‘B’ khata properties in Bengaluru, which include unauthorized layouts on revenue land.
The ‘B’ khata register has helped the civic body collect property tax from the owners.
‘B’ Khata property owners can neither avail bank loans, nor get occupancy/completion certificates from the BBMP.
So, has an official notification on regularization been issued by the government?
No, the government is yet to issue a notification in this regard.
Chief Secretary Kumar has only recommended issuing khata and property identification numbers to owners in Bengaluru.
Officials from the civic body’s revenue department say the khata would be issued to properties only after the collection of penalty, building and land conversion fees, and betterment charges.
The Karnataka Administrative Reforms Commission, headed by former IAS TM Vijay Bhaskar, had in February recommended the conversion of ‘B’ khata to ‘A’ khata.
How will regularization of khata help Bengaluru’s civic body,
The BBMP in its 2022-23 budget projected a total revenue collection of Rs 10,484.28 crore. It estimated that it would collect Rs 3,107 crore from property tax. And, Rs 1,000 crore from the ‘B’ khata to ‘A’ khata regularization scheme.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai in March said the issue would be examined in the light of Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act and Karnataka Land Revenue Act.
The idea of regularization of ‘B’ khata properties was first proposed in 2018 by the government. It had wanted ‘B’ khata properties to be regularised under its Akrama Scheme, which was introduced years earlier in 2015. Taking steps in this regard, the government in 2018 had also amended the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964.
The BBMP, however, was against this idea, as the Akrama Scheme was in the Supreme Court. The government later delinked ‘B’ khata from the scheme.
What is the major criticism against the BBMP?
Critics point out that the civic body has to share the blame for the mushrooming of ‘B’ Khata properties. Construction of buildings without bylaws and approvals from government bodies, and the municipal agencies turning a blind eye to the illegalities, also point to deep-rooted corruption.
Among the eight zones of the BBMP, officials say Mahadevapura zone has the highest number of ‘B’ Khata holders (1,81,249), followed by the Bommanahalli zone (1,13,582).
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