The Hindu 29.07.2009

Unauthorised layouts, sites to be regularised

Special Correspondent

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

Relief: A file photo of an unauthorised layout in Bangalore. The Bill seeks to regularise unauthorised layouts and house sites developed prior to December 31, 2008.

Bangalore: The Legislative Assembly on Tuesday adopted the Karnataka Land Revenue (second amendment) Bill 2009 which seeks to regularise all unauthorised layouts and house sites developed prior to December 31, 2008.

Minister for Revenue G. Karunakara Reddy, who piloted the bill, described it is a one-time measure to provide relief to a large number of people who had constructed houses in unauthorised layouts or on unauthorised sites and were not in possession of valid ownership documents. “There is no interplay of politics in the Government bringing forth the legislation. It is applicable all over the State.”

Chief Minister. B.S. Yeddyurappa supported the Revenue Minister in the smooth passage of the Bill following vociferous demand by the Opposition that the Bill be screened by a joint select committee of the legislature before it could be ratified. The Government, however, stuck to its stand and the Bill was adopted with the Opposition staging a walk-out.

Mr. Karunakara Reddy said: “The registration of revenue sites in unauthorised layouts and sites in the approved but developed layouts, particularly in and around Bangalore and other city municipal corporations in the State was banned as the layouts and sites were on agricultural lands without conversion. There are nearly five lakh persons who have purchased such sites and built houses thereon and are facing undue hardships. This is a one-time comprehensive scheme subject to certain reasonable conditions.” The legislation seeks to regularise all unauthorised structures and even the layouts and house sites formed on revenue lands, which include agricultural lands.

Hitherto, the government had banned the formation of such layouts and houses constructed in such layouts or even the sites were denied registration. As per an estimate, there are nearly 10 lakh such houses and sites in Bangalore alone.

The details of the regularisation process will be drafted in the rules to be formed under the amendments to the Land Revenue Act.

There is, however, no clarity on whether the Government will impose betterment and development charges on such unauthorised constructions and sites and if so what will be the quantum of such charges.

This has been described as a matter of detail and will be spelt out in due course. In a way, the regularisation announced under the Revenue Act is another format of the Akrama-Sakrama scheme contemplated nearly two years ago and has been awaiting implementation. That scheme, however, pertained to the jurisdiction of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike while the amendments of Tuesday are applicable to all parts of the State.

The H.D. Kumaraswamy-led coalition Government had taken pains to implement the Akrama-Sakrama scheme in 2007 and it was then estimated that nearly six lakh unauthorised constructions in Bangalore would stand to benefit.

The situation was much better in the other major towns and cities of the State including Mangalore, Mysore, Gulbarga, Belgaum and Tumkur.

Under the new legislation, some of the conditions include — unauthorised structures or sites in natural drains, on government lands, coming in the way of existing or proposed rings roads, national highways etc, belonging to another person over which the applicant has no title, beneath high tension lines etc., will not be regularised. Owners of buildings having more than two floors have to produce a certificate from a structural engineer and a no-objection certificate from the Fire and Emergency Services Department.

The Hindu 28.07.2009

Huge drop in applications for building plans

Staff Reporter

VIJAYAWADA: The cause or factors could be anything – recession, revised building rules, high prices and so on. But, the effect is a steep decline in the number of applications submitted for approval of building plans this year. Though the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) is receiving applications for approval of plans for individual buildings now and then, the scenario is worst with regard to apartments and multi-storeyed complexes. The VMC has, literally, “not received even a single application” for construction of apartments in the city during the last three months.

According to official sources, the corporation received 10 to 15 applications during the last six months for construction of apartments or multi-storeyed complexes. The scenario was entirely different a year and half ago.

The corporation used to sanction building plans for apartments and group housing more than 60 a year. Sometimes, it even touched 80.

The corporation received 1,055 applications for approval of plans for houses in an area of less than 300 sq. yards, and 60 applications for buildings/houses in more than 300 sq. yards from January this year. A major chunk of these 1,055 applications were for sanction of approval for individual houses. The VMC, earlier, used to receive 1,400 to 1,500 applications a year. In the city, about 50 apartments and 2,500 individual houses used to be constructed every year on an average.

The town planning wing used to process 250 to 300 building applications a month, sources say.

Likewise, the town planning wing’s receipts have also fallen to a greater extent.

The officials cite various reasons for decline in receipts, including withdrawal of ‘infrastructure fund’ that was earlier raised, collection of double amount of security deposits and so on. Officials point out that the Corporation is not collecting any security in view of the new building rules.

The builder/house owner would have to mortgage a portion of their building.

This clause was incorporated to ensure that building norms were followed rigorously.

The Corporation received only Rs. 2.57 crore from January this year. The building licence fee collected in 2006-07 was Rs. 3.5 crores.

It was Rs. 4.65 crores in 2007-08. The total receipts jumped to Rs. 23.15 crores in 2007-08, as two unusual components – infrastructure fund and Building Regulation Scheme – supplemented the receipts. The infrastructure fund was about Rs. 6 crore.