Civic officials will not find it easy to be let off the hook if they have allowed unauthorised constructions or violations of building by-laws.
The State government has come out with a final notifications on the imposition of penalty for jurisdictional officers. Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officers and those from other corporations in the State, if found guilty, are looking at a penalty of up to ₹50,000 for the first instance and up to ₹1 lakh for the second instance.
In municipality limits, an official may end up paying a penalty of up to ₹25,000 for first instance and ₹50,000 the second time around. Departmental inquires can be conducted against officials and stringent action may be taken against officials for subsequent violations.
The Urban Development Department (UDD) on Friday issued two notifications on the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (levy of penalty on jurisdictional officers for failure to prevent unauthorised construction and deviation ) Rules – 2019, and Karnataka Municipalities (levy of penalty on jurisdictional officers for failure to prevent unauthorised construction and deviation ) Rules – 2019.
E.V. Ramana Reddy, Additional Chief Secretary of UDD, told The Hindu that new rules, which are already in effect, will act as a deterrent for illegal construction of buildings.
“In October, the State government had issued a draft notification and received suggestions and objections. Now, the department has come out with a final notification. There are provisions to take stringent action against the officials by conducting departmental inquiry for continued negligence and lapses under KMC Act.”
