54,000 properties with illegal 'A' khatas in trouble

Bengaluru: Over 54,000 property owners who illegally obtained 'A' khata by bribing revenue officers are in trouble.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has issued an order instructing officials not to issue 'A' khata to property owners when they apply for e-khata. Instead, these cases will be placed in a separate queue for verification.

This could be a major setback for owners who bought the flats assuming the property has obtained 'A' khata legally. The BBMP is, however, yet to act against the revenue officials who issued the 'A' khata without following norms.  

In an internal circular, BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath instructed assistant revenue officers (AROs) to take the matter "seriously" and comply with the order by February 20.

Over the next nine days, revenue officers are expected to identify all 54,000 dubious 'A' khata properties in the BBMP software and place them in a separate queue. Whenever a property owner concerned applies for e-khata, they may receive a 'B' khata in digital format unless the property owner provides the required documents.

This issue has come under the BBMP's focus as it is in the middle of digitising its property records. The BBMP has already completed scanning the register, and the process of issuing e-khata is currently underway. To minimise errors, the BBMP has created a quality-check module in the backend to verify e-khata applications.

To obtain e-khata with the 'A' khata stamp, one must submit documents like land conversion order, betterment fee receipt, or approval from the erstwhile panchayat with the concurrence of the zonal deputy commissioner, or the layout or development plan approval as per the Karnataka Town and Country Planning (KTCP) Act.

If these documents are not submitted, the BBMP has decided to cancel the 'A' khata issued to property owners in the past either by mistake or fraudulently. While the civic body has identified 54,869 such properties, it has instructed revenue officers to deny 'A' khata to similar cases where property records were issued without following norms, but have yet to be identified.

So far, the BBMP has reviewed 9,736 cases where the 'A' khata was issued illegally as of February 2023. The civic body also conducted an investigation and identified 45,133 cases in which 'A' khata was obtained by paying the betterment fee. These documents have also been categorised as illegal, as there is no legal provision for issuing them by collecting a fee.

Mahadevapura, RR Nagar and Bommanahalli have the highest number of 'A' khata properties that were issued the certificate without following the proper norms. These properties will neither receive building plan approvals nor occupancy certificates, the order states. 

Munish Moudgil, Special Commissioner for Revenue, BBMP, said 'A' khata will only be issued to property owners who submit relevant documents when applying for e-khata. "All others will receive 'B' khata," he added, noting that action would be initiated against revenue officers who issued 'A' khata without following the rules.

Citizen activists suggested that the BBMP must first put its house in order before creating trouble to the residents. They also felt the order would create hardship for people who bought flats thinking it falls on 'A' khata property.