Citizen group to urge Governor to not give assent to Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill

Growing opposition to the GBG Bill 2024 in Bengaluru, with citizen groups planning legal challenges and Governor meetings.

Opposition to the Greater Bengaluru Governance (GBG) Bill 2024, which was passed in the Legislative Assembly, is growing. The Bengaluru Town Hall, a citizen group that was recently formed to draft a shadow master plan for the city in association with urban planners and other experts, will meet the Governor on Sunday and submit a letter asking him to not give his assent to the Bill until it is changed to become constitutionally valid.

The group convened an emergency meeting on Saturday to discuss the Bill.

The members of the Town Hall said that the speed at which the Bill was passed is alarming and requires immediate short-term actions to stall the government. They have also decided to take a multi-pronged legal approach and file around six to seven cases challenging the Bill in either the High Court or through an omnibus in the Supreme Court.

“Decentralisation is very important and healthy. But we are worried if what the government is planning to do is decentralisation or recentralisation, as the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) will have overriding power over all the other bodies. It sounds like they are putting officials who are accountable to the State for local administration rather than putting elected representatives in the council like in the mayoral system. They are violating the 74th Amendment of the Constitution,” said actor-cum-activist Prakash Belawadi, who deliberated the meeting.

On the other hand, the Citizens Action Forum (CAF) also plans to submit a letter to the Governor on Monday, while their legal strategy is in advanced stages. “We will write to the Governor by Monday and see what his reaction would be. If the Governor gives his assent to the Bill, then we are ready to file a case immediately. However, we will not be partnering with any other citizen groups,” said Vijayan Menon from CAF.

The Bill has been facing opposition from the citizens ever since the idea was floated in 2024 by the government. In the last week, after the GBG Bill was passed in the Assembly, it was widely criticised for granting the GBA the powers to nominate four members to the ward committees. Many felt that this would pave for MLAs to install their loyalists in the ward committees instead of citizen representatives.

Some changes were made to the Bill a few days later upon the suggestions of the Upper House and members of the Lower House. Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar clarified that the appointments to the ward committee will take place through a lottery system.