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BDA to crack down on illegal layouts

Asks Banks To Get Tough

Bangalore: Guess who’s building a home in an unauthorized layout? Just about everyone. From government employees to City Municipal Council (CMC) members to ex-mayors, they are all in the violations game.

Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) officials say there are some 190 ‘unauthorised’ layout in the city (the BDA website lists some 104 of them).

Now, fed up of telling people not to buy sites in projects without its approval, the BDA has asked banks not to sanction loans for such projects. It has also written to the Stamp and Registration Department asking the Inspector General of Registration and Commissioner of Stamps to ensure that no property is registered without the all-important BDA approval.

The IGR, BDA source told that as agreed to do so but wants a detailed discussion with the BDA first. But will such bans work, especially when lawmakers themselves blithely ignore the BDA’s warrings?

The BDA’s list of violators includes everyone – from cooperative societies formed by employees of government agencies (including the state law department, the revenue department and the central excise department), to an ex-city mayor, a member of the Raja Rajeshwarinagar CMC, as well as a co-operative house building society formed by employees of a well-known nationalized bank!

BDA officials admit this is a tough situation. “Every square inch is worth lot of money nowadays,” they agree.

The BDA, in the past, has had some success in reclaiming its own land. Between 1999 and December 2004, it recovered 175 acres. BDA commissioner M.N. Vidydshankar says that 5.5 acres reclaimed in HSR Layout is now worth Rs 45 crore.

He says the BDA has also issued notices to all on the ‘unauthorised’ list. Quite a few projects have come up in the ‘green belt’ of the city’s 1995 Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP). In some cases, civic amenity sites (meant for parks and so on) have been converted into plots.

By approaching banks and the stamps & registration department to veto such projects, he hopes developers will be forced “to approach BDA or the Bangalore Metro- politan Region Development Authority (BMRDA) to get approval for projects within the agencies’ respective jurisdictions.

• As per Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act, BDA’s approval is needed for projects within the 1,279 sq km of Bangalore metropolitan region (within Bangalore city, the CMC and the Town Municipal Corporation area).
  
  
• Ask developer to produce the copy of BDA approval for the layout; layout plan should have BDA seal and ask the developer to mark your site on the plan.
  
  
• Validate title deeds of the property; engage a well-informed lawyer.
  
  
• Before investing, always check with the BDA; consult the BDA PRO, duty commissioner or the town-planning member.
  
  
• Projects beyond BDA limits need BMRDA approval.
  
  
• Stay away from developers who claim to have ‘no objection certificates’ from either agency.