Uniform Khata for all properties recommended

Bengaluru

Owners of B-Khata properties can heave a sigh of relief. After years of deliberations, it has now been recommended that all properties in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) area may be given Khata/PID (property identify numbers) after collection of improvement expenses. This decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary P. Ravi Kumar held recently.

Though first proposed in 2018, lakhs of citizens are still waiting for the civic body to regularise their properties from B-Khata to A-Khata. Since 2008, BBMP, following directions of the State Government, has not been issuing A-Khata (permanent property record) to properties that are in violation of Government regulations. For such properties, for the purpose of tax collection, a separate register was created – B register – and properties under this have come to be known as B-Khata properties.

Sources in BBMP said that to delink the Khata issue from Akrama-Sakrama, which is still pending before the Supreme Court, the State Government had amended the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964, in March 2018.

The high-level committee, chaired by Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Development Department, had suggested restricting regularisation (issuing A-Khata to B-Khata properties) with the payment of improvement charges to just vacant sites and not sites with buildings. As per estimates, there are nearly 5.7 lakh B-Khata properties in the city, of which at least 1.4 lakh are vacant sites.

Civic chief Gaurav Gupta, while confirming the development, said that while the meeting had recommended issue of khata to all properties, an operational guideline and executive order is yet to be issued. Sources in BBMP’s Revenue Department stated that the Khata would be issued after collection of land conversion fee, penalty, compounding fee for the development authority concerned, and building plan approval fee, as recommended by the administrative reforms committee.

“The improvement charges were initially fixed and ratified around eight years. There now is another proposal pending with the Government recommending a slightly higher fee. The Government is yet to take a call,” the source said.

In its budget, the BBMP seemed to be banking on Khata regularisation and has estimated a revenue of ₹1,000 crore from this source.