Palike takes 'B' khata route to shore up revenue

 The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, in its attempt to widen the property tax net, will introduce a ‘relaxed’ ‘B’ khata registration regime.

The ‘B’ khata registration pertains to properties with large-scale violation of building norms or those which do not have sanction from competent authorities. The khata has no legal sanction but will help the property owners and the Palike to keep the records up to date. 

“The ‘B’ khata registration is nothing but recording the name of the resident and the
property for which the tax is being paid. It has no legal sanction,” said a Palike official.
In a late evening meeting on February 12, the Palike administration is stated to have decided to issue a circular asking the zonal commissioners and the BBMP head office to accept the applications directly from people who are yet to pay their property tax and issue ‘B’ khata for such properties.

A majority of the ‘B’ khata registration is expected from revenue pockets/layouts which have not been sanctioned by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), the Bangalore Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (BMRDA) or the Bangalore International Airport Area Planning Authority (BIAAPA) - the three plan sanctioning authorities.

According to officials, yet another advantage of the ‘B’ khata registration is that citizens will be spared of the ‘harassment’ by lower rung staff of the Palike for not paying property tax.

“People need not worry of having to bribe officials for not paying their property tax on account of violations. We will not consider any building plan violations or layout plan sanctions while issuing this khata,” said the official. He said attempts will be made to cover the ‘missing’ properties during the drive.

It is speculated that the Palike has come out with the ‘liberalised’ approach for issuing ‘B’ khata since its ‘Akrama Sakrama’ plan for regularisation of building plans is awaiting nod from the State government.