Gazetted draft rules issued for revised TDR

The State government on Tuesday issued gazetted draft rules for implementing the revised Transferable Development Rights (TDR) scheme in the limits of all city corporations, including the BBMP, in the State.

As per the revised scheme, the value of development rights has been increased to two times the total area to be acquired from the existing 1.5 times. Besides, the government has linked the revised TDR to the guidance value of land or building in order to prevent its misuse. The local planning authorities will have the powers to issue the development rights certificate.

The new scheme has given an option to the property losers to either accept the TDR or take monetary compensation, which will be fixed as per the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (Central Act). The government recently amended the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act to revise the scheme, which envisages acquisition of lands for taking up development works such as road widening.

The original TDR scheme had met with stiff opposition from property owners in Bengaluru as they used to incur huge loss. While gullible individual owners, whose properties were acquired suffered, builders made a killing by misusing various provisions of the scheme.

For instance, many builders used to buy TDRs at a throwaway price from the city outskirts where the guidance value is less and use them in prime localities.

The draft rules have laid down the procedure to be followed by the local bodies and planning authorities for acquiring private properties under the revised scheme.

The draft rules have also stipulated fee for issuing, transferring and utilisation of TDR. The authority will charge Rs 100 for issuing a TDR and Rs 5 per square metre for transferring the rights.