PLANNING TO CONSTRUCT A BUILDING WITH VIOLATION – BBMP HAS NEW PLANS TO TAKE AWAY THE GROUND FLOOR

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has decided to keep the ownership of the ground floor of a building that deviates from the original sanctioned plan. The rule will be application for all buildings of ground plus four storeyd  and above, this trial method is based on Hyderabad Municipality Policy.

BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad said changes to the sanctioned plan have become all too common. “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,” he said. Town planning experts have termed this decision to be one of the strongest ones taken by the BBMP Commissioner.

In the interim, till the property owner obtains an occupancy certificate, the ground floor of the building shall be registered with the BBMP at a nominal fee of Rs 100.

The property will be released along with the occupancy certificate. If the property owner has violated the agreement, the ground floor of the building will stay with the  BBMP, said Prasad.

The civic body has found that when time comes to get the occupancy certificate, nearly 60 per cent of properties in the city would have deviated from the approved structure. The new mode of penalty, the BBMP hopes, would act as a strong deterrent. But, the civic body has not taken any action on the existing buildings with deviation and violation.

The Akrama Sakrama is being heard as a Civil Appeal in the Supreme Court of India and the State Government has not taken any initiative except filing the caveat, to revoke the TI or Stay Order.  The State Government must approach the apex court to get the relief for the DC Converted sites, which will pave way for the collection of improvement charges.