Key bills on change of land use tabled in Karnataka Assembly

Two key bills that propose significant changes to land use in urban and industrial areas were tabled in the Legislative Assembly on Monday.

While the Karnataka Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Bill, 2020 will allow for change in land use from the master plan for a fee whenever land is procured by few agencies, Karnataka Land Reforms (Amendment) Bill, 2020, will permit sale of land purchased for industries after a period of seven years.

The Karnataka Town and Country Planning Bill makes a deemed provision for change of land use from the master plan, provided the land is procured by a “planning authority, local authority, Karnataka Housing Board, Karnataka Slum Development Board, Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board, Karnataka Small Scale Industries Development Corporation or Rajiv Gandhi Rural Housing Corporation Limited for any public purpose.”

For this purpose, the planning authority shall levy a fee prescribed by the government for the change of land use from the master plan.

The amendment to Karnataka Land Reforms Act, 1961 tabled in the Assembly, will allow the sale of land purchased for setting up industries after a period of seven years. The amendment will also provide for “deemed exemption to purchase land for Industrial purpose” as approved by State Level Single Window Clearance Committee under Karnataka Industrial (Facilitation) Act, 2002.

The bill permits sale of lands which are exempted under Section 109 of the Act. The industries, “after utilising such land for the period of seven years” will be allowed to sell it to other companies “to tide over the financial crisis.” Section 109 of the Act deals with the exemption provided to lands allocated for industrial development and other purposes.

It was introduced to replace the Karnataka Land Reforms (Amendment) Ordinance 2019. According to the bill, “industrial development” includes mining of minor minerals and stone crushing activity under the Karnataka Regulation of Stone Crushers Act, 2011.

The company will have to obtain permission by the high-power committee headed by the chief secretary, and the sale will be approved on a case-to-case basis, according to the bill.

The other prominent bills tabled in the Assembly included The Karnataka Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Bill, The Karnataka State Universities Bill, The Karnataka Regulation of Pay and Pension of Teacher in Higher Educational Institutions Bill and The Karnataka Race Courses
Licensing Bill.