Residents of Suncity Apartments share tips on how to get khata without bribes
Obtaining khatas is known to be an ordeal in itself. In the past, several residents in Bangalore have narrated stories of how much money they doled out to get a khata. Residents of Suncity Apartments on Sarjapur Road narrate their exhaustive khata registration experience and how they got through it by sticking together. They also share tips on how residents can take up such an exercise and avoid handing out bribes to government officials.
It is not uncommon to hear BBMP officials demanding various sums of money to ‘get the work done’. Khata is important when you apply for any license of building or for trade, applying for loan from any banks or financial institution or when you selling your flat. Khata is an account of assessment of property owners within BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) jurisdiction. It consists all the details of property like name of owner, size of buildings, location of property and all other details that helps to file property tax.
It started about two years back as four or five residents from Suncity apartment thought to get khata without bribes. They filed their applications and they followed up for about two-three months. They filed an RTI (Right to Information) application when there was no satisfactory response from BBMP officials. In their RTI application, they had asked questions like why the delay in getting khata, who are the officials responsible and so on. They got a response saying the khata is ready and will reach them in a week. Finally they got the khata in a week.
In an interview with Citizen Matters, Agrawal (Founder-member, Suncity Apartment Owners Association-SAOA) and Ashok Kumar Dubey (Executive committee member, SAOA) narrate their exhaustive khata registration experience and share tips on how residents can take up such an exercise and avoid handing out bribes to government officials.
“Suncity itself has about 1200 flats. About 200 had already paid bribe and got khatas. There were still about 800-900 of us who were yet to get khata. We thought of following up with MLA (Satish Reddy, MLA, Bommanahalli assembly constituency). We requested him to come to Suncity and we had a good gathering. He promised that BBMP officials will conduct a camp at Suncity. A camp was held the following week. About 100 people applied and got an acknowledgement. This happened in February 2009.” said Hariprakash Agrawal.
“We got acknowledgements but there was no progress. (Ashok Kumar) Dubey did lots of follow-ups. After two-three months we again approached the MLA. We wrote a letter to him with names of all the flat-owners who had applied and told him the applications are still stuck. After some phone calls, we finally got khatas for about 50 flats on August 15th 2009. We invited the MLA and he distributed the khatas which we got without bribe.” he added.
“I was in public sector for 22 years. I’ve never taken any bribe. So when this came to our apartment, I decided that I will not pay bribe. There was a official at the revenue department, she said it’ll take time. I asked her to give me a time – one week, one month – so that I could go back to her after that. She asked me to come after a week. We went back and forth. Finally we told the BBMP officials that we are inviting the MLA to distribute, you decide if you want to give us the khatas or not.We told them that whatever they do, we won’t bribe them. We told them that the more they delay, the more we’ll sit on their head. Ultimately we got it.” said Dubey.
Speaking from experience, Suncity Apartment Owners Association recommends to apply for Khata in a group and once the BBMP gives acknowledgement for the application submitted for Khata, it means the process has begun. But the work you had to do is follow-up. If you don’t get any response from BBMP after 2-3 months, file an RTI application. Approach senior BBMP officials at the zonal level if you counter any problems. Approach your local MLA or corporator for assistance. They will put a word to the BBMP officials.
Courtesy : Citizen Matters-Bangalore
Hi! I am a tenant residing in an apartment complex of two blocks and approximately 100 flats. I generally dont have any issue with the association but they have recently started with some bureaucratic procedures where they would like me to submit my car RC copy, my lease agreement & a letter of consent from my landlord to use my parking space in exchange for issue of a sticker for my car. Now I have not problem with paying them the Rs.100 they have asked and produce a copy of the RC original for verification at the time of issue of the sticker but I would rather not leave a copy with the association if I can help it. Am I within my rights to refuse to do the same. My agreement with my land lord includes use of the parking garage, so do I still need to prove to these people that I am entitled to use of the parking space?
Thanking you in advance,
Vikas.