As the sixth guarantee, the Congress government announced the ‘Bhoo Guarantee Scheme’ that enables B khata property holders to convert their properties into A khata in the five corporations falling under the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA).
Though the government announced the conversion scheme last year, there was hardly any response from property owners. This time, the government has given a new nomenclature to the old scheme, and to encourage people to come forward and avail the conversion, it has cut the fee from 5% of the guidance value to just 2%, giving a whopping 60 per cent discount.
According to the data shared by the government at the recent launch of the scheme, the city has 23 lakh properties -- 16 lakh A khata and seven lakh B khata. The property details were nin over 7,000 manual registers that have been scanned and digitised. As per experts, the scheme, if successful, is expected to generate a revenue of over Rs 10,000 crore.
Civic body’s failure led to creation of B khata
Thousands of Bengalureans had the option of buying B khata properties decades ago when prices were low, but chose not to fearing that they would be demolished by the government. But now, the government is legalising that transaction asking people to convert their properties by paying a fee. Civic experts say the concept of B khata is nowhere else in India and it is the result of civic body’s failure in preventing it in the first place.
“First of all, the government created a problem by giving clearance to projects with deviations and also creating a B khata system, which is completely wrong.
Now, they charge an amount for the conversion, which means they are regularising by taking some more money,” said Srikanth Narasimhan, Founder and General Secretary of Bengaluru NavaNirmana Party (BNP), a city-focused political party.
He demanded that the government first set right the process where no new illegal structures are given permissions or any type of khatas, and that is the only way to solve the problem in the long-term. “The e-khata process is still riddled with many issues.
For many people, the e-PID is still not loaded in the system, which makes it impossible for them to get their e-khatas. For projects that were originally part of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) or panchayats but are now in the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) area, there is still no clearly defined process. This leads to agents ruling the roost as well as revenue officials going berserk with demanding bribes, etc.,” Narasimhan said.
BNP demands that the backend and processes are set right before taking the e-khata system further, else corruption will continue.
Why spend lakhs to get a government record?
Convenor of Karnataka Home Buyers Forum Dhananjaya Padmanabhachar said a High Court order clearly states that if the deed is registered, purchasers have already paid stamp duty, and there is no need to pay extra money to enter the purchaser’s name in revenue records.
Going by the government’s claim, of over seven lakh B khata properties, only 7,000 applications have been received for khata conversion, he said.
“A property buyer already pays 7% stamp duty. Even after paying this hefty amount, what is the need to pay for khata conversion? The government should have collected developmental charges from the layout developers in the first place.
But they let them go and are now pressurising innocent property owners to pay. How justifiable is this scheme? I call upon property owners not to pay any fee to get their khatas converted. As against the government’s claim, even B khata property owners can avail loans”, Padmanabhachar said.
“Khata means a government-issued letter confirming that the owner’s name is entered in the revenue records. For that, why should the public pay additional money? It’s the government’s duty to enter the names so that they can collect property tax from the new owners,” he argues.
Joining him is NS Mukunda, founder member of Bengaluru Praja Vedike, who questions the need for the Bhoo Guarantee Scheme. “This is illegal and nothing but ‘Akrama Sakrama’. If the government is dragged to court, the scheme would be stayed.
Many citizens followed all the rules and declined to buy B khata properties, though they were available at low cost. The regularisation of properties on illegal layouts and with violations is a mockery of those who followed all the bylaws,” Mukunda said.
Both Mukunda and Padmanabhachar argued that for khata conversion, the whopping discount has been offered only to mop up revenue to the five new city corporations. They alleged that it is not to help people, but to garner votes in the upcoming elections to the city corporations.
Bold step to resolve a long-pending issue
Dr MK Sridharan from Civic Solutions said the scheme appears to be a bold administrative measure aiming to resolve a long-pending issue in Bengaluru, while intelligently mobilising resources for the state government.
“But this one-time regularisation opportunity may not serve the purpose unless it is executed professionally and without corruption. This could be a disincentive to residents who have built their houses abiding by all building laws. The government should actively involve direct public participation in supervising urban development and management in a structured way to achieve this goal,” Sridharan said.
He suggested that the scheme can achieve long-term success if it incorporates three essential elements -- mandating a minimum setback on all four sides, stilt parking floor on small plots, and increasing the minimum road width from the current 6ft/9ft to accommodate footpath and smooth two-way traffic after allowing roadside parking.
Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who is also Bengaluru Development Minister, boasts that no other government had taken up khata conversion, and they are repaying the trust of the people through the Bhoo Guarantee Scheme. He said that by converting B khata to A khata, owners can avail bank loans and get other facilities, while the property value too appreciates.
Though there is no clear picture on how the government arrived at levying 2% (5% without discount) of the guidance value as fee for khata conversion, experts say it is to compensate for the development charges.
What property owners say
Some property owners said khata conversion will help as A khata properties have a higher value. When B khata properties were bought, the owners would have paid less for the plots as well as the registration.
A property owner in Kadirenahalli said he has to pay Rs 3.5 lakh to get the A khata. He said he was eagerly waiting for such a scheme, but when it is here, he does not have money and is not too keen this time. He is, however, confident that the government will announce the scheme again.
Kochhu Shankar, a property owner in Horamavu, said, “I bought 3,100 sqft of land for Rs 2.5 lakh 30 years ago. Under the new scheme, if I have to get my khata converted, I have to pay Rs 4 lakh. I already paid hefty betterment charges for water and power supply, and I am paying all the taxes. I am not sure how this khata conversion is going to help me. The government is just looking at collecting money from us.”
He said, “The government claims that by converting to
A khata, properties would become ‘transactable’. However, what happens after the scheme ends in 100 days? Will properties become ‘un-trasactable’? This looks nothing less than an extortion by the government.”
Unnecessary burden on flat owners
Asked if khata conversion will help flat owners, Padmanabhachar said, “Bhoo Guarantee is a great help to builders and landowners who violated the sanction plan, and a penalty is being imposed on flat owners.
If the building is not constructed as per the sanction plan and if there was No Occupancy Certificate and khata, the sub-registrar should not have allowed the transfer of property from promoters to home buyers.
Once the government allows registration of sale deeds, it’s their duty to update the revenue records with buyer names for collecting property tax.”
While there is no official data on the exact number of apartments in Bengaluru, the forum said that as per their estimate, there are over 20,000 apartments in the city, housing over 25 lakh flats.
SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT
The government announces its sixth guarantee -- ‘Bhoo Guarantee Scheme’, ‘My e-Khata, My Rights -- which enables B khata property holders to convert their properties into A khata in the five corporations falling under the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA)
Move to benefit over seven lakh B khata holders. A campaign to be held every Saturday at 52 locations in the city
The scheme is aimed at helping owners regularise their properties, bringing unauthorised properties under a formal regulatory framework and increasing property tax revenue
Those who get A-Khata can avail bank loans from nationalised banks and get other facilities, while it also increases the property value
Cuts down the guidance value fee from 5% to 2 %
Scheme to be valid for 100 days till August 23
E khata citizen open house data across five city corporations under the Bhoo Guarantee scheme till May 23
