The Times of India 23.09.2009

Building penalties cut, deadline extended

Bengaluru, Sept. 22: Not only has the government cut the penalties for building violations in the city, but it has also extended the time required for paying them.

While previously only three months were given to people to buy applications to pay the fines, it has now been decided to extend this to six months. Announcing the slashed penalties for both residential and commercial properties, transport minister R. Ashok said on Tuesday that not only will the new rates benefit property owners, but also add Rs 4,000 crore to the state’s exchequer.

The government is expected to issue comprehensive guidelines on the new rates and once the Cabinet approves the sub-committee’s recommendations, an ordinance will be brought in to amend the Karnataka Land Revenue Act under which Akrama-Sakrama scheme has been introduced. In future if the violations in residential buildings in BBMP limits are within 25 per cent a 6 per cent penalty of the guidance value of that particular locality will be levied on those responsible. If the violations are more than 25 per cent, they will attract a penalty of 8 per cent. There has been a five per cent reduction in penalty for commercial buildings.

The previous policy had categorised properties as layouts, vacant sites, and buildings. The committee, however, has merged all three categories into one and fixed uniform rates. While the rules are applicable across the state and the rate of penalty is the same everywhere, the guidance value may differ from place to place.