An aerial view of skyline buildings in Bengaluru.
Credit: PTI Photo
The Karnataka government’s move to regulate B-khata properties within the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) area is being projected as a progressive step to bring clarity and administrative control to lakhs of unregulated properties.
However, it is crucial to call out a hard truth: this entire mess was created by successive governments through their inaction and complicity. For decades, the authorities turned a blind eye to buildings mushrooming on revenue land, often with the approval of local bodies and the blessings of political leaders.
Properties lacking in proper approvals were freely registered and stamp duties were collected, giving lakhs of unsuspecting buyers the impression that their transactions were legitimate. Now, the same government wants to clean up the mess, but only within Bengaluru.
What about the lakhs of properties in panchayat areas, where officers actively facilitated illegal layouts by granting approvals and permitting registrations? Can the state simply wash its hands of its responsibility to these buyers?
To be fair, the proposed framework offers a semblance of legal standing to B-khata property owners in Bengaluru. They can now obtain building plan approvals, occupancy certificates, and even convert their properties to A-khata if they meet certain conditions. This may allow them to finally access bank loans and transfer their property, basic rights that were denied thus far.
Yet, the policy remains unjustly narrow. By excluding properties outside GBA, the state is penalising middle-class families which invested in good faith, relying on documents registered under the seal of the government. Is it not a travesty of justice that while innocent citizens who put in their lifelong savings are punished, officials who facilitated this are going scot free without any accountability?
The move is also carefully worded to avoid the word ‘regularisation’. But in effect, the government is doing just that—only selectively. If the aim is to impose planning discipline and bring properties under the tax net, then the framework must be extended to all revenue layouts across Karnataka, where the government has a documented role in allowing the illegality to flourish.
People who bought sites and legally registered them should not be vilified, as they were misled by a system that failed to uphold its own rules and regulations. Ultimately, the initiative must be viewed not merely as a benevolent gesture but as an attempt to rectify systemic failures and restore public trust. The onus is now on the government to ensure that the implementation is fair, transparent, and extends equitably to all those caught in this web of regulatory ambiguity.