Govt tables bill to levy penalty on unauthorised buildings

The state government on Tuesday tabled in the Assembly the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (Amendment) Bill that proposes to increase quantum of property tax as a penalty on unauthorised buildings under the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike limits.

The bill proposes to impose “penalty equal to property tax on the buildings constructed without permission or in violation of building byelaws.” It also proposes to levy fees and annual rent on cables, including the optical fiber cables laid by BBMP.

As per the bill, whoever constructs or reconstructs any building or part of a building without permission under the Act or by violating any byelaws, “shall be liable to pay every year a penalty of an additional amount.” The amount will be calculated based on floor-area ratio or deviation in construction in excess of the permitted area.

The government also tabled the National Law School of India (Amendment) Bill, seeking to reserve 25% of the seats at the premier law school for local students who have studied in the state for ten years.

The Karnataka Innovation Authority Bill was also tabled to replace the Karnataka Innovation Authority Ordinance, 2019. The bill will address the subject of legal hardships faced by innovators developing products and services using disruptive technologies. Also, regulatory sandboxes that give innovators a small window of exemption from existing regulations will
be set up.

The other bills placed in the Assembly include: Karnataka Lokayukta (Amendment) Bill, 2020, Karnataka Official Language (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements (Amendment) Bill, 2020.