Apartments in Bangalore

The Akrama-Sakrama Scheme, formulated during the H.D. Kumaraswamy government in 2007, could not be implemented following strong protest and severe criticism against regularizing the structures that violated the building bye-laws and the high penalty rates. The Cabinet Subcommittee, which met on Tuesday, has recommended slashing of penalty rates. The Akrama-Sakrama is expected to be ready for implementation in about a month from now, as the BBMP has to also finalize the penalties.

The Akrama-Sakrama Scheme regularize the property by imposing penalty on property that are either constructed violating building bye-law or purchased land outside the erstwhile city corporation limits. The scheme involved the payment of one time penalty by property ranging between Rs. 5,000 (for minor violations) to Rs. 2.10 lakh.

Regularization of unauthorized apartment

In case of regularizing an apartment, only the apartment owners association is authorized to apply for regularization and not individual apartment owners. If the association does not apply for regularization, then the supply of water and electricity is liable to be disconnected after issue of notice. An apartment coming up in an area allocated for parking cannot be regularized at all. If the application for regularization is not considered, then the fees will be refunded.

What Akrama-Sakrama Scheme means

If the violations in residential buildings in BBMP limits are within 25 per cent, penalty will be 6 per cent of the guidance value of that particular locality. If violations are more than 25 per cent, then penalty is 8 per cent. For commercial property violations within 25 per cent in BBMP limits, fines will be 20 per cent while for violations more than 25 per cent, fines will be 35 per cent.

Authorities cannot go above the fixed rate while collecting penalties though they can reduce it. The meeting also said violations in residential buildings should not be more than 50 per cent, while putting a cap of 25 per cent for commercial buildings. The earlier rule had considered 15 per cent and 20 per cent of the guidance value for residential building violations (within and more than 25 per cent violations), while it was 25 per cent and 40 per cent of the guidance value for commercial property violations.

Conditions for Regularization

The penalty will be based on the location of the unauthorized structure in a given zone. However, building law violations should be not more than 50 per cent for residential structures and 25 per cent for commercial buildings. Unauthorized constructions on government properties, parks and footpaths will be ineligible for regularization under the scheme. Further, people could seek regularization over a six-month period as against the earlier three-month period.

The Cabinet Subcommittee has recommended slashing of penalty rates applicable under the earlier Akrama-Sakrama Scheme by nearly 50 per cent. The Legislative Assembly recently adopted the Karnataka Land Revenue (second amendment) Bill 2009 which seeks to regularize all unauthorized layouts and housing sites developed prior to December 31, 2008.

Recommended Penalty

The penalty that the owner of a building on an unauthorized residential site measuring 20 feet by 30 feet will vary between Rs. 30,000 and Rs. 45,000 compared to the Rs. 72,000 which was fixed earlier. For 30 feet by 40 feet unauthorized site, the penalty will range between Rs. 60,000 and Rs. 90,000 compared to the Rs. 1.62 lakh fixed earlier. For a site measuring 40 feet by 60 feet, the penalty will vary between Rs. 1.80 lakh and Rs. 2.10 lakh compared to the Rs. 4.23 lakh suggested earlier. The penalties, which were earlier roughly 15 per cent of the guideline values of the properties, have now been reduced to 8 per cent.

The estimation is that there are nearly seven lakh unauthorized structures in Bangalore alone. The Akrama-Sakrama is expected to be ready for implementation in about a month from now, as the BBMP has to also finalize the penalties based on the residential and commercial zones.