Karnataka govt increases deviation threshold of building plans from 5% to 15% in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Thousands of property owners in Bengaluru who have built beyond their sanctioned plans may soon have a legal and fee-based option of regularising building violations, which could include encroaching on a setback or ground coverage, adding an extra balcony or quietly residing in a flat without the occupancy certificate (OC).

To make this possible, the state government has proposed increasing the deviation of building plans from the existing 5 per cent to 15 per cent, which will be applicable across five corporations in Bengaluru. The move is expected to help property owners who could not get water or electricity connections for their buildings that did not have the OC so far.

As per the draft notification issued on April 1, the government has amended the Bengaluru City Corporation Building Bye-Laws, 2003, which deals with how much a building owner must pay to regularise an unauthorized deviation and what can be regularised. The government has invited objections and suggestions from the public within thirty days.

If the final notification comes into effect, the commissioners of all five corporations will be empowered to regularise construction violations where full demolition is considered “not feasible without affecting structural stability.” In all, the commissioners can act on four specific parameters of deviations such as setbacks around a building, plot coverage, floor area ratio (FAR) and building height.

How much is pardonable?

The notification has laid down two broad categories of buildings. For smaller plots (up to 500 sq m, buildings below 15 metres in height), up to 15 per cent of the total setback area on all sides is allowed, provided the deviation on any single side does not exceed half the required setback measured linearly. It has also allowed deviation of up to 15 per cent for ground coverage and Floor Area Ratio (FAR) deviation of up to 7.5 per cent.

For larger plots (above 500 sq m, any height), setback deviations of up to 15 per cent are permissible with ground coverage deviation capped at 15 per cent and FAR deviation at a stricter 5 per cent.

Building height, in both above-mentioned categories, cannot exceed the sanctioned number of floors, the notification states.

In simple terms, the government has encouraged construction of houses or buildings much closer to the neighboring property but thankfully has shown no leniency to the construction of illegal floors, which is rampant in Bengaluru.

The notification has also proposed a fee structure for the regularisation scheme. It includes a scrutiny fee of 0.01 per cent (residential) or 0.02 per cent (non-residential) and compounding fee for those who skipped the plinth certificate, which is 0.06 per cent (residential) and 0.08 per cent (non-residential). Fees are calculated on the guidance value of the site, subject to a minimum consideration of Rs 50,000 per sq m which is applied to the total built-up area.

Suhas Ananth Rajkumar, a resident of CV Raman Nagar said the government has completely changed the thought process of regularising building deviations. “So far, the 5 per cent deviation was allowed to help property owners who had violated the sanctioned plan inadvertently. The new amendment shows the government is helping people who have intentionally violated. These relaxations on top of the recent amendments to the zonal regulations are designed to ruin the city,” he said.