BBMP mulls linking e-khata with building plan approval to check violations

After making e-khatas mandatory for property transactions, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike is now considering issuing e-khatas for the building plan approved by the civic body for a particular building. It hopes this will prevent building bylaw violations, which are rampant in Bengaluru.

“There is a plan to link e-khatas and building plan approvals. We may not implement this immediately, but we will do this down the line,” said Munish Moudgil, Special Commissioner (Revenue), BBMP, who has been spearheading the e-khata initiative.

After building an apartment complex, a builder will approach the civic body to secure e-khata for the individual flats. If the approved building plan and the e-khata portal are linked at the backend, violations will be flagged, and e-khata will not be issued to flats that violate the plan. 

For instance, if the Town Planning Department approved ground plus 10 floors and the builder built 12 floors, then the e-khata portal will reject an application for the khata for flats on the unapproved two additional floors. Since an e-khata is mandatory for property registration, the builder will likely be stuck with the flats on the unapproved floors, a senior BBMP official explained. Since the e-khata will have details about the plot, any Floor Area Ratio violations can also potentially be checked for, sources said.

The civic body has already introduced a “trust and verify” model for plan approvals. Linking e-khata with plan approvals at the backend can help the civic body introduce an automated system to check plan violations. As property records are digitised, officials do not need to visit to cross-verify. This will take the civic body a step forward in making its services “faceless and contactless” to curb corruption.

Published - December 13, 2024 09:53 pm IST