Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill: Where is Brand Bengaluru vision? And the people’s voice?

The Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill, 2024 (GBG) was tabled at the Karnataka Legislative Assembly on July 23rd. It outlines a three-tier structure to govern Bengaluru: A new body called the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) for coordinating and supervising the development of the Greater Bengaluru Area; ward committees as basic units of urban governance and to facilitate community participation; and ten City Corporations in the Greater Bengaluru Area for effective, participatory and responsive governance. 

However, the Bill has been criticised by several groups and urban practitioners for being in contravention of the 74th Constitutional Amendment, which decentralises power to lower levels of government.

Background 

In 2014, a three-member expert committee called the BBMP Restructuring Committee, was set up to study and recommend to the State Government how to restructure the governance of Bengaluru, including the BBMP and other parastatals. They came up with the draft Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill, 2018.

In August 2023, this Committee was reconstituted with an additional committee member and was renamed as the ‘Brand Bengaluru Committee’. The findings of the Committee over a five year period (2014-2018 and 2023-2024) were collated in the Brand Bengaluru Committee Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill in July 2024. 

This was seen as an alternative to the BBMP Act 2020 passed by the earlier BJP government. 

However, the tabled Bill tabled in the Karnataka Assembly has major departures from Brand Bengaluru Committee’s Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill. 

In any case, bringing in another piece of legislation bill and then taking time to implement it, if and after it is passed by the Assembly, is only going to postpone the long pending BBMP elections, which perhaps is the greatest need of the hour. 

Differences between the tabled GBG & Brand Bengaluru Committee GBG

Mayor-in-Council vs Standing Committees

Brand Bengaluru GBG Bill: One of the issues highlighted with the BBMP Act 2020, is that under it, both the elected Mayor and the Commissioner are vested with executive functions. It is stated: “While the Mayor is responsible for approving contracts and preparing budgets, the chief and zonal commissioners are vested with a wider set of executive  functions. Hence, there is lack of clarity on who has executive powers and on the reporting  relationship.”  

“The Brand Bengaluru Committee’s GBG Bill avoids such confusion by clearly vesting the executive powers of the Municipal Corporation in the Mayor-in-Council, a cabinet-type body consisting of a maximum of 12  elected members from the Municipal Corporation.”

Tabled GBG Bill: There is no mention of a Mayor-in-Council while Standing Committees have been retained 

Implications: This is problematic since the Standing Committees, a failed model of the past, have collective leadership with not much accountability whereas the Mayor-in-Council can be held accountable. 

Ward committees

Brand Bengaluru Committee GBG Bill: It mentions extensive functions of the ward committees. It suggests that each ward will have a Ward Committee, comprising 20 members, 10 of whom are elected based on proportional representation reflecting the party vote share in the municipal elections (every 10% vote share gets one representative) and the other half nominated from a wide spectrum of civil society groups, ranging from RWAs to slum groups. It also suggests that 25%-50% incremental property tax, arising from past arrears and under-assessed properties, be retained by the ward committee. 

Tabled GBG Bill: There is no mention about how nominations to the ward committees will be done and their functions are more limited. The scope to retain a part of the incremental property tax has been dropped.

Issues with the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) 

There are several critical departures from the functions of the GBA between the Brand Bengaluru Committee GBG and the tabled GBG.

Brand Bengaluru Committee GBG Bill: A detailed planning function of the GBA has been outlined. Additonally, it mentions that the functions of GBA include planning, integrating, and co-ordinating. It, however, does not mention any executive powers of the GBA.

Tabled GBG Bill: There is no mention of GBA’s planning function. Also, the GBA has been vested with executive powers.

The Bill also states: “Such percentage of the revenues of the City Corporations within the Greater Bengaluru Area shall accrue to the Greater Bengaluru Authority as recommended by the Government.”

Implications: The GBA is pointless without the planning function. Its absence defeats the basic rationale for the GBA. What will the GBA co-ordinate and supervise if it is not the master planner?

Also, it being vested with executive powers of the Corporation is in contravention of the 74th Amendment. Executive functions should instead rest with the existing institutions. Another major point of contention is that the state cannot touch the corporation’s revenue.

The Greater Bengaluru Authority members

• The Chief Minister as the Chairperson 
• The Minister in charge of Bengaluru Development, as the Vice-Chairperson
• The Chief Commissioner of GBA- Member Secretary 
• The Minister in charge of Home Affairs
• The Minister in charge of Urban Development
• The Minister in charge of Transport 
• The Minister in charge of Energy  
• The Ministers in the State Government representing the legislature constituencies in the Greater Bengaluru Area
• The Mayors of the City Corporations within the Greater Bengaluru  Area 
• Two Members from each City Corporations within the Greater  Bengaluru Area nominated by the City Corporation 
• The Commissioner, Bangalore Development Authority  
• The Chairman, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board   
• The Managing Director, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport  Corporation  
• The Managing Director, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation
• The Managing Director, Bangalore Electricity Supply Company  Limited
• The Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru City
• The Chief Executive Officer, Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport  Authority
• The Managing Director, Bengaluru Solid Waste Management  Limited
• The Chief Town planner, the Greater Bengaluru Authority 
• Engineer in Chief, the Greater Bengaluru Authority 
• The Director, Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services
• The Commissioners of the City Corporations in the Greater  Bengaluru Area shall be ex-officio members of the Greater Bengaluru Authority but shall not have the right to vote.  
• All the members of the House of the People and the State Legislative Assembly whose constituencies lie within or substantially within the Greater Bengaluru Area shall be permanent invitees to the GBA and may attend the meetings but shall not have the  right to vote.  
• The executive heads of Department of Urban Land Transport,  Bangalore Traffic Police, Karnataka Rail Infrastructure Development  Enterprises Limited, Karnataka Tank Conservation and Development  Authority, Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority and the  Karnataka Slum Development Board and any other officer of any agency or department of the Government discharging municipal functions in the Greater Bengaluru Area as the Government may specify, shall be special invitees to  the GBA and may attend the meetings but shall not have the right to vote  
• Chief Commissioner of Greater Bengaluru Authority.- The  State Government shall appoint an officer not below the rank of the Additional  Chief Secretary to Government, as the Chief Commissioner of the GBA 

The composition of the GBA, therefore, is essentially bureaucratic, with no representation from democratically elected members of the Council(s).

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