BBMP suspends officials over lapses in land registration

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Thursday suspended five officials in relation to financial irregularities while registering a property.

BENGALURU: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Thursday suspended five officials in relation to financial irregularities while registering a property.

According to an official release, the BBMP’s finance and revenue team found lapses in the way a property measuring 32.27 acres was registered for Messers Sterling Urban Infra Projects Private Limited on December 10, 2018. On directions of BBMP Commissioner B H Anil Kumar, revenue officer Kemparanagaya, assistant revenue officer Shammachari, and revenue inspector Lokesh Babu have been suspended until a departmental inquiry is carried out.

Action has also been taken against Deputy Commissioner Shive Gowda and Joint Commissioner Jagadish. These two were working in BBMP on deputation. A report will be sent to their parent departments in order for action to be taken against them. The BBMP has written to relieve Shive Gowda from his duty immediately for he was warned of such irregularities earlier too. Jagadish has been repatriated as per the BBMP’s orders.

They were also suspended due to lapses in revenue collection. According to the report, the revenue inspector signed the property for registration and forwarded the file to the higher ups, without proper land
conversion orders and the required documents.

Ideally, the file should have been sent to the assistant revenue officers for spot inspection and document verification. However, the zonal joint commissioner and the zonal commissioner approved the file for khata registration by just checking the documents on December 7, 2018. Later, on December 10, 2018, registration orders were issued by the Joint Commissioner of Mahadevapura.

The officials also unearthed that developmental charges of Rs 30,69,775 and Rs 3,30,69,775 were collected on December 31, 2018. However, they did not collect the 2% stamp duty. The officials
also learnt that the said officers did not collect property tax for seven years.They only collected property tax for one year (2018-19). The khata certificate fee was also not collected. Citing lapses in every stage, the BBMP suspended the officials.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com