BENGALURU: Starting July 1, it will be mandatory to enter a property’s e-khata/EPID (Electronic Property Identification) number into the online software when applying for building plan approval. While BBMP Chief Commissioner Maheshwar Rao said the move will enable automated verification of property tax records, property owners are wary about the development as they complain that they are already struggling to get e-khatas.
Rao said BBMP currently provides online building plan approval through the EoDB-OBPS software. To streamline processes, efforts are under way to integrate the EoDB-OBPS online software used by the Town Planning department for building plan approvals with the e-Aasthi system used by the Revenue department for issuing e-khatas.
“With this change, the process of submitting property records separately to the Revenue department for verification will be eliminated. This move is expected to simplify services provided by BBMP, and facilitate timely building plan approvals,” Rao said, adding that from July 1, submission of e-khata will be mandatory when applying online for building plan approvals, including ‘Nambike Nakshe’. Consequently, the procedure of forwarding property ownership records to the Revenue department for verification will be discontinued.
Further, under the ‘Trust & Verify’ approach, preliminary plan approvals will be confirmed or rejected with valid reasons by the respective Assistant Directors (Town Planning) within a specified time frame. If this is not done, the system will automatically grant ‘Deemed Approval’. In such cases, Joint Directors (Town Planning) at the zonal offices are directed to report to the Zonal Commissioners for disciplinary action against the officers responsible.