Nod for bill on regularising houses on revenue land

Governor Vajubhai Vala on Thursday gave his assent to an amendment bill that seeks to regularise unauthorised houses constructed on revenue land in urban areas, Law Minister T B Jayachandra said on Thursday.

His predecessor H R Bhardwaj had opposed the bill – The Karnataka Land Revenue (Second Amendment) bill, saying that its provisions were against the principle of rule of law. He had refused to give his assent and sent back the bill. The BJP was in power at that time.

In his observation sent to the government, Bhardwaj had stated: “The amendment will cause ‘severe inroads’ into the lofty principles such as the rule of law, equality before law, due process, majesty of law, dignity of courts, inalienable fundamental rights, directive principles which are enshrined in the Constitution.”

The Siddaramaiah government had pursued the bill and replied to all the points raised by the governor. But there was no response from Raj Bhavan. So, the government had reintroduced the bill in the Legislature and sent it back to the governor. The bill proposes to insert Section 94CC in the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964, providing for regularisation of unauthorised houses built prior to January 1, 2012, on 20x30 ft sites of government land in urban areas.

In Bengaluru, the bill provides for regularisation of houses built on government land within 18 km of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike limits. In other urban local bodies, the extent is within 10 km from the corporations limits, five km from the city municipal council limits and three km from town municipal council and town panchayat limits.