The Karnataka Town and Country Planning (Regulation of Unauthorised Development or Construction) Act, popularly known as ‘Akrama-Sakrama’, had been notified- update – akrama sakrama update – details on akrama sakrama

The Karnataka Town and Country Planning (Regulation of Unauthorised Development or Construction) Act, popularly known as ‘Akrama-Sakrama’, had been notified.

Details in a nutshell:

The rules shall apply to all unauthorised developments that have come up on or after the date of approval of the first Master Plan, but before 19 October, 2013.

Applicants will get a window of 90 days to pay the fee.

a).  regularisation of unauthorised developments of layouts or sites (applicable for both converted and non-converted lands),                

b). regularisation of unauthorised buildings, regularisation of setback violations for non-residential buildings, and

c). regularisation of floor area ratio (FAR) violations for residential and non-residential buildings.

The notification states that in Bangalore urban district it would cost Rs 600 per sq m (1 Square Meter is = 10.7584 Feet) for the regularisation of unauthorised developments of layouts and sites if the property area is above 120 sq m, while for sites with area exceeding 60 sq m, but less than 120 sq m, it would cost Rs 160 per sq m.

For the regularisation of unauthorised buildings, the fee is 6 percent of the market value per sq m (2013 Guidance Value) of the land if the violation is up to 25 percent, and 8 percent of the market value per sq m of the land to regularise 25 to 50 percent violations. The fee for setback violations for non-residential buildings will be 20 percent of the market value of the land if the violation is up to 12.50 percent, and 35 percent of the market value of the land for those properties where violations are reported between 12.50 per cent to 25 per cent.

The fee to regularise FAR violations for residential buildings. For up to 25 per cent violation, the owner of the property has to pay 6 per cent of the market value of the land(Guidance Value), while it’s 8 per cent of the market value of the land if the violation is between 25 per cent and 50 per cent.

FAR (Floor Area Ratio – in other cities, it is called FSI or Floor Space Index) violations of non-residential buildings, the fee has been fixed at 20 per cent of the market value of the land if violations are up to 12.50 per cent, and 35 per cent of the market value of the land for violations between 12.50 per cent and 25 per cent.

The fee for the properties (residential and non-residential buildings) where setback and FAR violations are against the approved plan but within the provisions of the zonal regulations. In such cases, the regularisation fee shall be the difference in prescribed fee under section 18of the Act.

The owner of a residential building has to pay a fee of 2 per cent of the market value (2013 Guidance Value) of the building for construction in non-converted agricultural land, while the owner of a non-residential building has to pay 4 per cent of the market value of the building in an identical situation.

An owner of a residential building has to pay 2 per cent market value of the building for construction without a building plan, whereas a non-residential building owner has to pay 4 per cent of the building’s market value for the same violation. The notification further states that BBMP and BDA will also charge scrutiny fee and betterment fee, and the building owner also needs to pay towards the urban areas infrastructure development fund.

The sequence of application and scrutiny

The applications related to land use violation and unauthorised subdivision of land(Layout or sites formed) (within municipal limits only) shall be forwarded to the concerned urban development authority or planning authority for clearance. (BDA and BMRDA in case of Bangalore, MUDA in case of Mysore) The authority after collecting the statutory fees as prescribed in the Act as well as the notified rules, shall forward the opinion for clearance to the competent authority. The competent authority will dispose of the application.

The competent authority is expected to give the applicant an hearing in case of discrepancies in the documents. After scrutinising the documents, the competent authority is expected to prepare a scrutiny report and list the fees payable by the applicant.