BBMP is violating CDP: councillor

By approving building plans for properties on roads notified for widening, the BBMP is violating the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP), charged K. Chandrasekhar, Hanumanthnagar councillor.

At the monthly council meeting on Thursday, he said that as per rules, buildings plans for properties on roads to be widened can be approved only if space for the proposed widening is left untouched. For small sites, the building plan should only have setback.

“This loophole is being misused by people and big sites are being bifurcated. Citizens, apart from getting to use the entire built-up area, are also violating zoning regulations,” he alleged. He added that whenever the BBMP takes up road widening, it will have to give TDR to such properties.

‘B’ khata

With the High Court stating that ‘B’ Khata has no legal sanctity, several councillors asked if the BBMP would continue to issue the same to citizens. Councillors B.V. Ganesh, Padmanabha Reddy, M.K. Gunashekar and K. Chandrasekhar pointed out that that the BBMP had already issued over two lakh ‘B’ Khatas.

BBMP Commissioner M. Lakshminarayan said that the BBMP didn’t issue ‘B’ Khata, it only registered certain unauthorised properties under a separate register for the purpose of collecting property tax. “Over a period of time, the registry of such properties has come to be known as ‘B’ khata. The High Court has directed the BBMP to change the nomenclature,” he said and added that the present system of registering unauthorised properties under a separate register would continue. “We will discuss the issue with legal experts and government to decide on the next course of action,” he added.

Fake khata

For a small sum, the khata of any property can be changed.

To illustrate this, Kacharakanahalli councillor Padmanabha Reddy got the khata of a property owned by BBMP Commissioner Lakshminarayan’s mother Venkatamma changed to his name.

He displayed the khata extract along with copies of tax paid receipts to the Commissioner, who was taken aback. After verification, Mr. Lakshminarayan pointed out that the document was clearly a fake, as it didn’t have the BBMP watermark, apart from the nine digit application number.

Mr. Reddy said, “I just wanted to throw light on the issue as many gullible citizens are being fleeced.”