Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter THE DEFEAT OF THE LAW BBMP REGULARISES REVENUE PROPERTIES IN SACHINDANANDANAGAR LAYOUT

BY. FIROZ.T.TOTANAWALA 

THE BANGALORE METRO REPORTER

 THE DEFEAT OF THE LAW 

 BBMP REGULARISES REVENUE PROPERTIES IN SACHINDANANDANAGAR LAYOUT 

 The Commissioner of BBMP Mr. Siddaiah has done an unimaginable act by getting the khatas registered to the hundreds of sites in the illegal Sachindanandanagar Layout formed by the notorious Viswa Bharthi Housing Co-op Society. Proving that he can be subdued with media and other pressure, Siddaiah has registered the khatas to the sites in this illegal layout and legalized the highly illegal act. If the same yardstick is applied, Siddaiah will have to register the khatas to lakhs of revenue properties in BBMP areas. To hell with law of the land! 

 In our earlier edition, we had discussed about how B. Krishna Bhat of the Viswa Bharti Housing Society undertook illegalities to form of the Sachindanandanagar layout which thus became illegal in itself. It was clearly explained that the land does not belong to the society and the society has also not obtained layout plan sanctioned from the BDA. It has not even got the lands converted and there are other violations with regard to Co-op. Society’s Act, Land reforms Act, Town planning Acts, etc. 

 In fact, the land has been forfeited by the government in 2001 itself. The final word on this is yet to be said by the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal where the dispute is pending. The BDA had notified the layout as illegal and ordered demolition of the unauthorized constructions in the years 2005 and 2007. The plain fact is that B.Krishna Bhat, had purchased agricultural lands the dispute of which becomes ineligible under Land Revenue Act and Land Reforms Act. He has also used the society’s funds to purchase the lands and again used the society’s name to register sites formed in the illegal layout to the purchasers by treating them as members! 

 On the whole the entire layout is a revenue layout. In the year 1996, the CMCs in the city collected betterment charges from the revenue property owners for having utilized the civic amenities provided by CMCs and issued ‘Holder’ Khatas to them. It should be noted that the khatas effected were only symbolic and not the regular khatas. The holder khatas do not guarantee right, title and ownership, it was only meant for collecting betterment charges and tax towards using the amenities provided by the CMCs. 

 Naturally, few owners of sites in Sachindanandagar layout got the khatas by payment of betterment charges. So taking advantage of the betterment charges scheme, about 100 site owners obtained khatas for their properties in 1996. Later, the Divisional Commissioner directed the CMC, Pattanagere (now RR Nagar) to stop collecting betterment charges. 

 B.Krishna Bhat went to the court and in the year 2005 the civil court directed the CMC to register the khatas after quashing the directions of the Divisional Commissioner. Needless to say that Krishna Bhat managed to get the orders by misleading the court and also ensured that the CMC does not go in appeal. By this time, the Government had confiscated the lands purchased by the B Krishna Bhat violating Lands Reforms Act. He then filed an appeal in KAT but till now, no final word is said about the same. As on now, the land records stands in the name of the Government. In 2007, the Government banned the collection of betterment charges by the CMCs as it became clear that the CMCs had no such powers. 

 At the same time, the Government passed a bill for ‘One Time’ Akrama-Sakrama scheme to regularize unauthorised constructions and Revenue Properties. But the enforcement of the Act from 1-1-2008 was deferred under High Court orders. Later, the Government tried to bring some reforms and two months back, passed the modified Akrama-Sakrama Bill. But the Governor had refused to sign the bill and as on now, the Akrama-Sakrama scheme is in cold storage. As such, the regularization of sites in Sachindanandanagar layout must wait till the Akrama-Sakrama scheme is brought into force. 

 But some of the site owners were not prepared to wait. Manjunath alias Quality Manju formed a Resident’s Association and moved the BBMP’s RR Nagar Zonal Joint Commissioner Veda Murthy to get the khatas to about 800 properties. He started collecting amount between 3 to 5 lakhs from the owners depending on the size of the property. Manju also enlisted the support of local MLA M.Srinivas whose word is Law for the BBMP officials. In fact, the entire multi crores deal was to be based on the city court’s order directing the CMC to register the khatas. As the government has banned the collection of betterment charges itself and brought in a special Akrama-Sakrama Scheme to regularize the revenue properties, there was no way the sites could be regularized at this juncture. But that did not deter Manju to clinch a ‘deal’ with BBMP officials to get the Khatas, illegally, albeit for a price. 

 In the meanwhile, another association was formed among the site owners and they had approached the Lokayukta against the BBMP officials and carried a media blitz bringing their woes to the public notice. They also based their case on the city court order concern only with ‘Holder’ or ‘Anubhuvdar’ khatas and not the regular khatas. They made the Lokayukta to come to their rescue. As luck would have it, the BBMP’s Additional Commissioner Veda Murthy in his reply to the Lokayukta complaint gave a wrong reply about the status of the case relating to an appeal to the city civil court order. This was sufficient for the Lokayukta to bang the BBMP officials and within the next of couple of days, Veda Murthy went out of BBMP and K.M Ramachandran took over as the Additional Commissioner of RR Nagar Zone. 

 After assuming the chair, K.M Ramachandran from day one was determined to clinch the deal under the direction of MLA Srinivas and Manju. He was waiting for an excuse to start issuing the khatas. 

 The Lokayukta’s slap was a God sent opportunity to complete the deal. The other group also mounted pressure on the BBMP Commissioner Siddaiah and finally Siddaiah relented and ordered the issue of khatas. 

 The other day, a group of the site owners laid seizes to RR Nagar Zonal office and forced the officials to issue the khatas to 120 of their members. They continued it till midnight and got khatas. Similarly, the Manju group too got the khatas. The BBMP officials particularly K M Ramachandran, the RO, ARO etc. are smiling from ear to ear for having made few millions. The owners are happy for having got the khatas to their properties in the illegal Sachindanandanagar layout. Every body is happy except the law of the land. 

 In fact, Law of the land has become the first casualty. The entire episode throw much light on the machinations, manipulations etc. of the bureaucrats and the astronomical level of corruption. In one go, about 800 revenue properties have been regularized by the BBMP without caring for the law of the land. If the same properties were to be regularized under Akrama-Sakrama Scheme, the BBMP would have netted revenue of not less than 20 crores. 

 The combined force of money, muscle power, media etc. has resulted in BBMP regularizing more than 800 revenue properties in an illegal layout. The question is will the BBMP regularize lakhs of other revenue properties in city and give khatas to them? 

The entire episode needs a serious introspection among all particularly those who respect the law of the land!