Cabinet nod for renaming Mumbai-Karnataka as Kittur Karnataka

The Cabinet on Monday decided that the winter session of the legislature will be held at the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi, after a gap of three years.

The last time the legislature session was held in Belagavi was in 2018.

Briefing reporters, Law Minister J C Madhuswamy said the winter session will be held in Belagavi tentatively from December 13 to 24. “Exact date of the session will be finalised in the next meeting,” he said.

The Cabinet also decided that the Mumbai-Karnataka region will be officially known as Kittur Karnataka. The region comprises seven districts - Uttara Kannada, Dharwad, Belagavi, Vijayapura, Bagalkot, Gadag and Haveri.

In another significant decision, the Cabinet approved the bifurcation of the Dharwad milk union to create a new one for Haveri, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s home district.

Similarly, the Kolar-Chikkaballapur District Co-operative Milk Producers Union Ltd (KOMUL) will be divided with Chikkaballapur getting its own milk union. According to sources, Health Minister K Sudhakar pushed for this in order to gain an upper hand in his political rivalry with former Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar.

The Cabinet also approved the Karnataka City Corporation and Other laws Amendment Bill, which will be issued as an ordinance.

Madhuswamy said that the ordinance was required as fee collected for plan approval, commencement certificate and occupancy certificate was challenged in the High Court, with the petitioner seeking a refund.

Over the past few years, around Rs 2,000 crore was collected. “We are amending the law as per court directions and bringing an amendment to protect the money collected by BBMP,” he said.

Though there was a provision to collect such fees in BBMP bye-laws, there was no legal framework under the said Act. This will be addressed by the amendment, he said.

The government also decided to hand over 69.07 acres of gomala land to Rajiv Gandhi Housing Corporation Limited for the One Lakh Housing scheme. The government will soon hand over another 250 acres of land required for the project.

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