Bengaluru: In what could bring relief to thousands of property owners, the cash strapped Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has decided to collect betterment fee and regularise properties that had been given conditional A khatas.
The civic body wants to collect at least Rs. 450 crore. On Thursday, it issued a circular to collect betterment fee for 4,260 properties, which so far had been given only a conditional A khatha. These properties include those developed on DC converted land, private layouts and layouts developed by KIADB, KHB and KSSDC. This comes after the High Court stay order on collection of betterment fee was vacated in August 2016.
However, BBMP authorities clarified that the fee is restricted to properties that have already been issued conditional A khata and not those with B khata.
Sources said that these properties had been issued A khata in 2014 after collecting betterment fee since many lacked infrastructure and proper documentation. However, this was stayed by the HC.
“BBMP issued A khata after collecting an undertaking that betterment fee would be paid by the property owners subject to the HC order,” said Venkatachalapathy, DC (Revenue), adding that demand notices will be issued to property owners.
“There are 4,260 such cases. More than 95 per cent of these cases are in the outer zones where the betterment fee is Rs. 250 per sqm. We expect to generate Rs. 466.23 crore through this route,” he said.
DC converted lands prove tricky
Civic officials say the tricky part is collecting betterment fee for DC converted lands. After A khata was issued, several property owners sold them after marking sites, in many cases without permission from planning authorities.
“The problem now is that individual sites cannot be given A khata since the layouts are not approved. In several cases, land owners vanished after selling the sites,” an official said. “In these cases, it’s unfair to ask site owners to pay up. If they demand A khatas in their individual names, it cannot be issued legally. We will issue notices to the original land owners and try to trace them,” a senior BBMP official said.
Betterment fee
- Rs. 250 per sqm in outer zones
- Rs. 200 per sqm in core zones
- BBMP expects to generate Rs. 466.23 crore
Betterment fee for six categories of properties
- DC converted land
- Layouts developed by KIADB, KHB, KSSDC
- Private layouts re-conveyed by BDA during formation of BBMP
- Properties regularised under Section 94 (c) of Karnataka Land Revenue Act
Timeline
- July 2014: BBMP starts issuing A khata for six categories of properties after collecting betterment fee
- 2015: HC stays the order after it was challenged on the grounds that betterment fee was too high. BBMP continued issuing A khata after taking an undertaking from owners to pay up subject to HC order
- August 2016: HC vacates stay order
- November 3, 2016: BBMP issues circular to resume collection of betterment fee