No Acquisition of Properties Without Owner’s Consent
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According to the current law, properties can be acquired for road-widening only under TDR.Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) is a certificate from the Municipal Corporation that the owner of a property gets where his/her property (either part or whole) is reserved for the purpose of public utilities such as road, garden, school etc. TDR can be enforced only if the owner is willing. If he isn’t willing, the only option open to BBMP is to acquire the property under the Karnataka Land Acquisition Act.
The government’s ambitious road widening project, likely to affect more than 35,000 property owners in Bangalore. In April, property owners received a notice from the BBMP, informing them about acquisition of a portion of their property for road widening. Right to Information (RTI) documents have thrown up the surprising and hitherto well-hidden clause which states that no acquisition can be done without the owner’s consent.
This brings relief to property owners who were likely to affect as the part of road widening project. The only option open to BBMP is to forcibly acquire the property by paying current market rates under the Karnataka Land Acquisition Act. The process of acquisition of properties under the Karnataka Land Acquisition Act is very expensive, tedious and time-consuming and as such not a route preferred by BBMP to acquire land for road-widening.
The commissioner’s hope is that Bangaloreans will willingly part with their land for road-widening and the consequent infrastructure projects. For the record, BBMP has already identified over 37,000 properties across the city of which 4,436 properties are in Central Business District (CBD).
H Siddaiah, the newly appointed BBMP commissioner, admitted as much, “We cannot forcibly take land under TDR for road-widening. In case people refuse to give land for TDRs, then we have the option to acquire land only under the Karnataka Land Acquisition Act. But for this, there are many procedures involved.”
“Under the Karnataka Land Acquisition Act, there are many procedures involved — wherein we first have to issue notices to the property owners. We have to give them three months time to file objections. Then compensation will have to be paid to the property owners. The quantum of compensation again varies from area to area depending on the real estate value of the land.” he added
“If the BBMP has to compensate all the affected property owners, the Palike will incur Rs 10,000 crore expenditure, which is virtually unaffordable for a corporation already reeling under financial crunch,” sources said.
Therefore, BBMP cannot acquire properties for road widening without the consent of property owners. If property owners isn’t willing, the only option open to BBMP is to forcibly acquire the property by paying current market rates which is virtually unaffordable for a corporation.
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