Bengaluru Civic Body to Take Over Building Floor If Rules Flouted

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s decision is aimed at curbing violations and potential safety hazards.

Taking a cue from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, Bengaluru’s Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has proposed to amend bylaws enabling it to take ownership of the ground floors of buildings which do not stick to its sanctioned plans.

This proposal has been mentioned in the 2017-18 BBMP Budget which was released on Saturday.

Atul Chaturvedi in Bangalore Mirror reported that the rule will be applicable to every building which is more than five storeys high.

BBMP officials told Bangalore Mirror that more than half of properties differed from the approved structure at the time of issuing occupancy certificates.

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Deviations are one of the biggest headaches after building plans are sanctioned. Genuine buyers are also affected by this problem. Henceforth, when builders come to BBMP to get their construction plan approved, they will have to register the ground floor in BBMP’s name. Once the construction is completed and at the time of issuance of the occupancy certificate, the ground floor will be released to the builder or developer.

N Manjunath Prasad, BBMP Commissioner

Rohith BR in The Times of India reported that the ground floor of the building will be registered in the civic body’s name at a fee of Rs 100 and the ownership will be transferred to the builder only after occupation certificates have been released.

“If the property owner has deviated from the building plan, the ground floor ownership will remain with the BBMP,” MK Gunashekar, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Finance And Taxation, BBMP, was quoted as saying by The Times of India.

The proposal is aimed at curbing violations as well as potential safety hazards, officials said.

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"During 2016, there were many building collapses, including a major one in Bellandur. We found that building norms violations were rampant. To arrest such illegal constructions, we proposed an amendment to the building bylaws by linking building plan approvals to issuance of occupancy certificate. Since occupancy certificate is crucial for renting or leasing out any property , we want to ensure that such a certificate is obtained only after the building is built as per the plan," an official from BBMP’s planning wing told The Times of India.

(The story first appeared on The News Minute and has been republished with permission.)