After two years, Karnataka govt brings back TDR scheme in new avatar

After a two-year sabbatical, Karnataka has brought back the scam-ridden transferable development rights (TDR) scheme.

The decision is expected to help municipal authorities take up projects that were put on hold due to uncertainty over the TDR scheme.

The state government issued a notification on September 23 regarding granting development rights certificates (DRCs) to landowners in cases initiated before the commencement of the Karnataka Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Act, 2021. The notification lays down the procedures for issuing DRCs, while acquiring private properties, and the timeline to follow.

As per the new procedure, the municipal corporation concerned is expected to issue a public notice stating the requirement of private property for the development of roads, parks or any public purposes approved in the Master Plan or the local authority.

The public notice must also mention the land or the building owners who have opted for development rights, in lieu of monetary compensation. The DRC will be given by the authority as twice the land area surrendered and two times the building area.

According to senior officials in the Urban Development department, the notification would help clear the large number of pending DRCs. The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) had stopped issuing DRCs to landowners who lost their property to public projects after the TDR scheme was embroiled in serious discrepancies.

The notification, officials said, would also enable the BBMP to take up new projects while the BDA will continue to grant TDR certificates on the BBMP’s request.

Contentious issues

The notification is, however, silent on two contentious matters: firstly, the re-validation of DRCs already issued to land losers. As a number of DRCs were issued generously, there was a need to check the veracity of all the DRCs before the approvals.

Secondly, the value of the property, be it agricultural or converted, has not been defined in the notification. This could result in discrepancies while assessing the value of the property.

RTI activist B M Shivakumar said the new TDR policy was needed because many projects were pending due to a lack of funds to acquire land. “The new policy must make it mandatory for the BDA and the BBMP to publish the list of DRC beneficiaries on their websites. This will lead to public scrutiny and the possibility of irregularities will be low,” he said.

Shivakumar added that the BDA had already issued DRCs to influential people while ordinary land losers are still waiting for the certificates, despite having given away their land.