BBMP officials allegedly twisted the process where a single property can be bifurcated if a road passes through it – but there was no such road
BENGALURU:
The suspension axe is hanging over four BBMP revenue officials, along with disciplinary action against Bommanahalli zone Joint Commissioner Ramakrishna who is on deputation from Karnataka State Finance Corporation (KSFC).
The probable action is in the backdrop of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s written assurance to Legislative Council member UB Venkatesh after the Bommanahalli zonal officials were found guilty of involvement in illegal bifurcation of property in Arakere.
Sources told TheBengaluruLive that BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta has assured the Chief Minister in writing that he will initiate serious action against the officers concerned.
The officers involved in the illegal bifurcation are: Narasimha Murthy — Revenue Inspector, S V Manjunath — Assistant Revenue Officer, Venkatesh – Revenue Officer, Shashikala N – Deputy Commissioner (Bommanahalli) and Ramakrishna – Joint Commissioner (Bommanahalli).
2 retiring soon
Of them, Revenue Officer Venkatesh is scheduled to retire from the service later this month while Joint Commissioner Ramakrishna will be retiring in April this year.
As per records available with TBL, the property in question — belonging to Yellamma at Survey No. 39 in Puttenahalli Village, Uttarahalli Hobli, Bengaluru South Taluk in Ward No 187 — was issued with a conversion order by the Deputy Commissioner, Bengaluru Urban, and was issued a single khata with No. 1392/39 measuring 8.08 guntas after payment of the requisite improvement charges during 2016-17.
Being a single-unit property, it was not eligible for bifurcation unless approved by the local planning authority as per the circular issued on December 2, 2021.
Sources said that the BBMP revenue officials have misrepresented the process where no property can have a single khata when a road or a drain passes through the property dividing it into multiple parts. In such cases, each portion of the land is provided with separate municipal numbers.
order was issued on December 19, 2021
The bifurcation of the property was approved and an order was issued on December 19, 2021. The total land with a single municipal number was further divided into three parts based on two registered gift deeds (of 2,783.45 sq ft and 2,627.95 sq ft), which mention a portion of the land being relinquished for a public road (measuring 1,404.06 sq ft).
However, on verification, it was found that the said road does not pass through the single- unit property, thereby making the bifurcation unauthorised and illegal. It is also learned that the portion mentioned as the road has not been relinquished to the local authority.
A rough sketch of the property and the road portion being relinquished is seen above.
‘Khata juggling’
According to an official source, the concerned BBMP officials illegally approved the bifurcation by providing two separate new municipal numbers for the gifted portions and retained the original municipal number for the retained portion of the land.
“This clearly shows they have violated the rules and orders in effecting the bifurcation process without obtaining the proper approvals from the competent authorities. Therefore, disciplinary action is being initiated against all the erring officials — Narasimha Murthy, SV Manjunath, Venkatesh, Shashikala N and Ramakrishna,” said a source in BBMP’s administrative wing which works directly under the supervision of the BBMP Chief Commissioner.
What is single-unit property?
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahangara Palike was formed after adding the adjoining CMCs, TMC and 110 villages to the then existing Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike. Many lands in such newly added areas were still agricultural and were converted for non-agricultural usage. Many lands were converted to layouts and sites without proper approvals from the relevant authorities.
Properties were converted from agricultural to non-agricultural use into a single unit with the approval of the concerned competent authority of the concerned local authority without further division for development as sites. Given the above, BBMP issued a circular on December 2, 2014, which clarified the cases which were eligible for khata registration, bifurcation or amalgamation.
As per the circular, properties with existing khatas from the previous CMCs, TMC or the village panchayat were issued khatas by BBMP. Such sites were authorized to be bifurcated or amalgamated. Any property freshly obtaining the conversion order from the competent authority was issued with a single khata for the entire converted and undivided land. Any bifurcation was unauthorized for such single-unit properties.
