With large-scale violations of building bylaws in the city, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is mulling over a proposal to generate revenue from such buildings, which will also help it keep unauthorised constructions in check.
According to a senior official who spoke to The Hindu on condition of anonymity, one of the proposals to generate “continuous revenue” was to classify all buildings in the city under two broad categories. Buildings with no deviations will be under A category, while those with deviations will be under B category.
“The BBMP has all the data pertaining to buildings in the city, including those that are not covered under the property tax net, through GIS (geographical information system),” the official said.
The official added that under the new proposal, the BBMP would be able to levy a penalty on the properties under B category. The penalty would be fixed based on the degree of deviation. “The property owner will have to pay the penalty every year along with the property tax. This will be the case till the deviations are rectified.”
BBMP officials said that if the penalty was made compulsory, the same would have a bearing on the market value of the properties under the B category. “This is one of the ways to check the rampant building bylaw violations, besides being an assured revenue source. There is no need to bring in a new policy. To enforce this, the BBMP just needs the approval of the council and later a go-ahead from the government.”
Advisory cell
To improve revenue generation, the BBMP has also proposed to constitute a property tax analytical advisory cell. The cell will comprise of the Special Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) and revenue experts from various citizens’ groups. Its main objective is to identify revenue sources and help increase generation, thereby improving BBMP’s financial health. The cell would be constituted soon, the source said.
