Civil society groups up in arms against draft Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill tabled in Karnataka Assembly

The city’s civil society has been up in arms against The Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill, 2024, the State government tabled in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Tuesday. Civil society groups have argued that the provisions of the Bill are in contravention of the 74th amendment of the Constitution of India, which decentralises power to the urban local bodies, and are preparing for a legal battle challenging the Bill, if it goes through the legislature. 

The city’s civil society has been up in arms against The Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill, 2024, the State government tabled in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Tuesday. Civil society groups have argued that the provisions of the Bill are in contravention of the 74th amendment of the Constitution of India, which decentralises power to the urban local bodies, and are preparing for a legal battle challenging the Bill, if it goes through the legislature. 

The Bill provides for a three-tier structure for governing the city - ward committees, multiple corporations, and a new body called the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) led by the Chief Minister, as the apex layer. The Bill is a sharp departure from the draft Bill submitted by the Brand Bengaluru Committee, formerly called the BBMP Restructuring Committee. The committee also made their version of the Bill public on Tuesday. 

Though much focus of the political opposition to the proposals has been against the proposal to carve out multiple corporations - 1-10 as per the Bill, civil society groups argue the problem of the Bill lies in the GBA. As per the Bill tabled on Tuesday, the GBA led by the Chief Minister, will have Bengaluru Development Minister, four other Ministers, all chiefs of parastatals of the city, Mayors of all the corporations as members, apart from all MLAs and MPs from the city. 

The draft Bill submitted by the expert committee envisions the GBA as a body that plans, integrates, and coordinates for the city, with no executive powers. However, the Bill tabled on Tuesday, provides GBA executive powers and financial powers. The Bill creates departments of Town Planning, Solid Waste Management, Engineering, Finance and Law in the GBA. However, the Bill doesn’t give it planning powers, which will continue to be with the BDA. 

While the expert committee draft provides full financial and functional autonomy to the corporations and recommends GBA to ensure equity between corporations through State government grants, the Bill tabled in the Assembly, says a share of the revenue of the corporations will be credited to the GBA. Further, the Bill creates an executive committee led by the Bengaluru Development Minister and has all chiefs of the parastatals and commissioners of the corporations as its members for the day-to-day functioning of the GBA. 

Vijayan Menon, president, Citizen Action Forum, termed the GBA “unconstitutional”. “We have not elected the MLAs, including the Chief Minister, to carry out municipal functions of the city. The Bill essentially envisions a system where we will be paying our property tax not just to the municipal body, but also to a committee led by the Chief Minister. Further, the executive committee of the GBA, which will essentially run the city, is filled with bureaucrats and led by the Bengaluru Development Minister. While the GBA has mayors of multiple corporations and representatives from the zonal committees, the executive committee, where the power lies, has none. This means the Bill hands over the city administration to one minister and bureaucrats. This is in complete contravention of the 74th amendment of the Constitution of India,” he said, adding they plan to challenge the Bill in the court on these grounds. 

Civic activist N.S. Mukunda of Bengaluru Praja Vedike, which also plans to challenge the Bill legally on the same grounds, said that if the Bill goes through, the multiple corporations will be “so weakened, it will effectively work like zonal offices in the existing set up”. “Power and money is concentrated in the GBA, which is an unelected body for the purpose. How can this body take away the revenue of a corporation? This is the holy grail of the 74th amendment that has been violated,” he said.