The BBMP Council on Thursday passed a resolution to increase the
betterment charges for the revenue sites. This time, it has proposed Rs
540 per square metre to regularise revenue sites of any dimension.

Betterment
charges are levied on sites in the revenue layouts located in
newly-added areas to the city corporation during the formation of the
BBMP. There are around 300 such revenue layouts.

In 2010, when S K
Nataraj was the Mayor, BBMP Council had passed a resolution fixing
different betterment charges for different dimensions  of sites. It was
Rs 200 per square metre for sites measuring up to 1,200 square

feet, Rs 250 per square metre for sites measuring 1,200 square feet to 2,400 square feet, Rs 350 per square metre

for
sites measuring 2,400 square feet to 6,000 square feet and Rs 450 per
square metre for sites with a measurement of over 6,000 square feet. The
charges-which were for the provision of water supply, roads and

drainage-were
approved by the BBMP council on December 29, 2010. The then BBMP
Commissioner Siddaiah had issued a circular in this regard. Following
this, some landowners went to the High Court challenging the betterment
charges fixed. In April this year, the court had observed that it could
not be said that the owners of the smaller sites were always
economically weak and invariably use lesser infrastructure provided by
the BBMP.