The State Government has decided amend two laws to make builders and developers – who are responsible for construction of illegal buildings/apartments and housing layouts – to pay the penalty under the year-long Akrama-Sakrama scheme of regularisation of unauthorised constructions in the urban areas beginning from March 23.
Law Minister T.B. Jayachandra on Friday said two acts - Karnataka Apartment Ownership Act, 1972 and Karnataka Ownership Flats (Regulation of the Promotion of Construction, Sale, Management and Transfer) Act, 1972 – would be amended to make builders, who were responsible for unauthorised construction of buildings and layouts, to pay penalty under the scheme.
Currently, the Akrama-Sakarama scheme announced by the Urban Development Department has put the onus of payment of penalty for regularisation of residential and non-residential properties on owners of properties.
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Builders and developers, who violated norms during construction of buildings, now sold properties would get escaped from the paying penalty.
The Minister directed the officials of the Urban Development Department, which would implement the Akrama-Sakrama scheme, to give a proposal on merging both acts into one within 15 days. The Government would consider amending both acts during the coming budget session of the state legislature.
He said it was improper on the part of the government to levy penalty only on the present owners under the regularisation scheme as they were unaware of such unauthorised properties from either builders or developers of layouts during the purchase.
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Urban Development Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake had, on Tuesday, announced the Akrama-Sakrama scheme that seeks to regularise 50 and 25 per cent of violations in residential and commercial structures respectively by collecting penalty. All buildings constructed before October 19, 2013, are eligible for regularisation.