Akrama Sakrama may see light of day after LS results

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is likely to implement the much-touted Akrama Sakrama scheme after the Lok Sabha elections.

The scheme would not only offer relief to the property owners in illegal layouts and owners of buildings with deviation in construction plans, it will also bail out the BBMP from the current financial mess.

The Palike is expecting a revenue of at least Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 6,000 crore from the scheme if the government okays the draft rule. It will help the Palike rid itself of its loans of Rs 3,500 crore and dues to the contractors totalling Rs 1,350 crore.

Realistic assessment

Former taxation and finance committee chairperson Manjunath Raju said, “The BBMP officers have been claiming to garner at least Rs 10,000 crore, but that is a way exaggerated figure. A realistic assessment of the possible revenue would be somewhere about Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 6,000 crore.”

However, the government’s nod is a must to get the draft rules approved. A Palike officer said the scheme would not only benefit Bangaloreans, but also people from across the State awaiting approvals. 

Poll code hurdle

The government was about to clear the Akrama Sakrama scheme when the model code of conduct came in the way along with some legal hassles.

Last year, the government passed the Akrama Sakrama scheme in two phases. The first one was for the buildings with deviations in approved layouts and the second one was regularising those layouts which neither have any approvals nor the land use has been converted from agriculture to non-agriculture.

The government brought the scheme under the Karnataka Town and Country Planning (Regulation of unauthorised development or construction) Act, which was notified on December 31, last year. The government fixed October 19 as the cutoff date to regularise unauthorised structures.

Under the scheme, violations pertaining to setback, floor area ratio (FAR), non-conversion of agricultural land and formation of unauthorised layouts and sites under urban local bodies, including BBMP, are eligible for waiver. 

However, implementation of the scheme is subject to the Karnataka High Court permission.
 The court has directed the government to maintain status quo with regard to implementation of the scheme.

The new rules suggest that the government aims to abolish screening committee for processing applications and passing regularisation orders. It moots empowering competent authorities (commissioners of ULBs) to regularise properties.