BBMP to probe forged Occupancy Certificate

Bengaluru: Even while the forging of the signature of BBMP commissioner M. Lakshminarayan by a contractor is fresh in people’s minds, a resident of Malleswaram has forged the signature of an assistant town planning officer to get an occupancy certificate.

During an inspection, the BBMP engineers found a five-storeyed building built in contravention of the rules and not complying with the BBMP building bye-laws. After this, the BBMP issued a notice announcing the demolition of the building.

A resident of Malleswaram, Vivek Kumar, in order to avoid demolition of the building, forged an Occupancy Certificate (OC), certificate purported to be issued by the BBMP, certifying that the building was built in compliance with the law and was fit for habitation. He approached the Karnataka Appellate Tribunal (KAT) and sought a stay on the demolition of the building.

Speaking to DC, Kacharakanahalli corporator Padmanabha Reddy said that there was rampant misuse of signatures of officials by a few unscrupulous people and this has been brought to the notice of authorities during the council meeting. Already, the BBMP has been suffering revenue losses due to the non-issuance of occupancy certificates.

“The BBMP commissioner must order a probe in all the eight BBMP zones about the issue of OC. As per the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act 1976 the BBMP has provision for compounding violations up to five per cent by collecting penalty. Also the officials can certify if the structures are safe for living,” he added.

BBMP joint commissioner (West) Laksmi Narasimhaiah said that prima facie it was found that Vivek Kumar, resident of Malleswaram 11th cross has forged an official’s signature. The case is being probed by the officials. After the probe is completed, a criminal case will be filed against the building owner if found guilty.
Meanwhile, the BBMP commissioner has issued a circular to inspect the occupancy certificates issued at all the eight zones.