The Legislative Assembly passed the Bangalore Development Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2020, for regularising illegal construction of houses in BDA layouts in Bengaluru by paying penalty from 10% to 50% of the guidance value, depending on the size of the sites.
The owners of house buildings on 20x30 sq.ft sites have to pay 10% of the guidance value, and those on sites measuring more than 20x30 sq.ft and up to 30x40 sq.ft have to pay 25% of the guidance value for regularisation of constructions.
The owners of house buildings on sites measuring more than 30x40 sq.ft and 40x60 sq.ft have to pay 40% while those on sites measuring more than 40x60 sq.ft and up to 50x80 sq.ft have to pay 50% of the guidance value for regularisation of constructions.
This amended law is applicable to house buildings which are 12 years old. Owners of about 70,000 houses can regularise constructions by paying penalty, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J.C. Madhuswamy informed the House on Friday.
The Bill also made a provision to punish erring officials who fail to protect BDA property from the date of enforcement of this law and also to take action to evict unauthorised occupants within a period of two years. The passage of the Bill is expected to help the cash-strapped government mobilise resources.
‘Will help mafia’
While ruling party members demanded regularisation of such illegal construction of houses in other urban local bodies, A.T. Ramaswamy of the JD(S) opposed the Bill arguing that it would benefit real estate mafia in the city. Mr. Ramaswamy said the Bill was passed with an intention of getting votes in the coming elections to the BBMP council.
Town planning Bill
The Karnataka Town and Country Planning (Third Amendment) Bill, 2020, was also passed in the Assembly. It enables disposal of sites by registration by developers in a phased manner in the ratio of 40:30:30 by fully developing sites in each phase with all infrastructure. It also provides for single plot development. The Bill also aims to protect the interests of the purchaser of sites.