Karnataka govt mulls new scheme to regularise 75K unauthorised buildings in Bengaluru

The Karnataka cabinet on Thursday decided to bring back a new version of the Akrama-Sakrama scheme to regularise over 75,000 unauthorised constructions in BDA Layouts in Bengaluru.

Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa and his cabinet have decided to bring back the scheme in a different format and under a new name, Times of India reported. This time the scheme will be restricted to only BDA and BDA-approved layouts.

The government plans to regularise about 75,000 unauthorised constructions across 5,000 acres in Bengaluru. The cabinet on Thursday decided to form a sub-committee headed by Deputy Chief Minister Dr CN Ashwath Narayan to draw up details of a new version of the scheme.

Akrama Sakrama scheme sought to regularise unauthorised constructions in Bengaluru. The scheme proposed that residents pay penalties for violating building bylaws and this was acceptable only if the violations were not severe. The scheme was proposed as a lot of buildings were not issued occupancy certificates and thereby the residents had not paid property taxes.

The panel will also include Revenue Minister R Ashoka, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Suresh Kumar and Housing Minister V Somanna, The Hindu reported.

“The violations include deviation of building bylaws, construction without plan approval and others. These people are neither paying property tax, nor are they paying development fee to the BBMP. We are planning to regularise these buildings under section 38(c) of the BDA Act,” Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister JC Madhuswamy told the media on Thursday.

He said the new scheme would be discussed in the next Assembly session, after amending existing laws, including the BDA Act, 1976.

The Akrama-Sakrama scheme was set aside due to legal issues. It was first introduced by the Janata Dal government in 1996 and successive governments have tried to implement the scheme. However, the scheme was never implemented as several activist groups petitioned the Supreme Court against the scheme and the matter was shelved.