House panel likely to submit report on Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill in February

A 13-member committee was constituted to scrutinise the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill, 2024.

The 13-member committee that was constituted to scrutinise the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill, 2024 is likely to submit its report in February after conducting public hearings ahead of the budget session of the Karnataka Assembly. Whether the Bill will be tabled in the budget session of the Karnataka legislature is uncertain. The much-delayed civic polls in Bengaluru is being linked to the new bill being passed, by the ruling Congress.

The committee headed by Shivajinagar MLA Rizwan Arshad was set up by Speaker U. T. Khader on August 22, 2024. The draft bill was introduced in the monsoon session of 2024. Following opposition, the draft bill was referred to the House committee, which has MLAs and MLCs from all the parties.

The members are MLAs N.A. Haris, B. Shivanna, S.T. Somashekar, Priyakrishna, A.C. Srinivas, S. Suresh Kumar, S.R. Vishwanath, S. Raghu and G.T. Devegowda, and MLCs Puttanna, U.B. Venkatesh and H.S. Gopinath.

The committee met multiple times to discuss various aspects of the bill, including splitting Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), disaster management, waste management, taxation, forest, lakes, and horticulture. According to sources privy to the development, the committee is finalising the report and is expected to submit the same to the government in February.  

Mr. Arshad told The Hindu, “We have completed the task assigned to the committee. We will hold public consultation on the Bill soon. If everything goes as planned, the report will be submitted in the month of February.”

Former Congress councillor Abdul Wajid hopes that the Bill will be tabled in the Budget session of the Assembly. “Deputy Chief Minister and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief D. K. Shivakumar has set a five-month deadline to hold civic polls in Bengaluru,” he said.

Members from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are likely to file dissent notes to the committee’s report, sources said. When the erstwhile BJP government had brought in the BBMP Act, 2020, Congress members of the joint House panel had refused to sign the report calling the Act a ‘missed opportunity’ and filed dissent notes. However, the Bill was passed. After coming to power, the Congress constituted an expert committee and drafted the new Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill, 2024, which came to the House committee for examination.