The BBMP’s hopes for Akrama Sakrama came crashing down when the Supreme Court imposed a stay on the scheme. However, experts and citizens are rejoicing alike, for the regularisation scheme for property violations will only benefit moneyed- home owners and corrupt contractors, reports Aknisree Karthik
Unauthorised constructions are the bane of Bengaluru, destroying our lakes, encroaching raja kaluves and disturbing the roads. Basement areas which are strictly meant only for parking are converted into commercial places or houses. This results in parked vehicles choking arterial roads, blocking pavements and even spilling out onto main roads.
The much-criticised Akrama Sakrama, through which the BBMP hopes to regularise the huge number of illegal constructions in the city, won’t help matters as such but will rake in much revenue for the financially-ill BBMP, says N.S. Mukunda, about the Citizen’s Action Forum. "The BBMP didn’t address the core issues of irregularities in buildings, but was gearing up to invite applications under Akrama Sakrama,” he said. "According to the BBMP, violations of upto 50 percent of the setback and floor area ratio (FAR) for residential and violations of upto 25 percent for commercial buildings can be regularised. What if the violations exceed this limit?” With so little clarity on the matter, there is no guarantee, really, that regularisation will be done right, without corruption.
"We have unleashed a monster because of greedy citizens and BBMP officials who took bribes for keeping quiet about violations. How do we know the same thing won’t happen again?” For instance, a building owner whose violations hit 30% may grease the palm of a BBMP engineer to declare that the violation is within permissible limits, thereby reducing his penalty,” Mukunda explained. Building owners are also asked to declare violations of their own accord. “How do we know that people will do so? Can we ascertain that the actions of the BBMP officer concerned? The system needs third-party scrutiny.”
Akrama Sakrama was first introduced in 2007, and a group of citizens, including Mukunda, appealed to the court and succeeded in obtaining a stay. In the end, the BBMP had to return the Rs 17 crore it had collected! “Let the civic body come up with a clear plan. Owners should be asked to convert basements into parking spaces once more within a stipulated timeline. The BBMP should also provide more clarity on the percentages of violation and regularisation,” he added.
Displaying information publicly, like on the BBMP website, will help matters, as the extent of violations will be made known to everybody. "We will know how much our neighbour has violated. If his extent of violation is put up on website, we will know whether his claims are true. Resident Welfare Associations can play an active role in cross checking the extent of truth behind declared violations."
What is Akrama Sakrama?
For those who do not know about Akrama Sakrama, it is a scheme which permits one time regularisation of upto 25 per cent violations in setback and floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and 50 per cent violations in residential buildings, apart from allowing unauthorised building in illegal layouts to be legalised by collecting fines.
- Akrama Sakrama in its current form does not cover properties that have deviations of more than 25 per cent for commercial and 50 per cent for residential properties.
- Penalty varies from 6-8 percent of the guidance value for residential properties and 20-35 percent for commercial ones. Will the fines be levied based on the guidance value in 2013?
- The last cut-off date was Oct 19, 2013. Will it be extended or not? If it is extended, will fines be levied based on the current guidance value?
- Citizens will pay the penalty for violations. What action will be initiated against BBMP officials who turned a blind eye to violations by accepting bribes?
BBMP to extend A-S deadline?
The cash-strapped BBMP, which will receive a bit boost through the hundreds of crores it will collect in revenue from Akrama Sakrama, was all set to issue applications when the apex court poured cold water on its plans. According to BBMP Mayor G Padmavathi, "We were about to issue a notification and invite applications under Akrama Sakrama. The Supreme Court has brought our preparations to a grinding halt and we have put the notification on hold for now.”
Saying that a review petition will be filed before the SC, the mayor added, "These violations couldn’t have taken place without the help of BBMP engineers and officials. We are looking at taking action against the guilty officers who worked hand-in-glove with citizens turning a blind eye to violations."
Talking about the lack of clarity in the process of regularising buildings that have exceeded the stipulated limits, she said, "Presently, deviations crossing 50% by residential and 25% by commercial buildings are not covered by the scheme. We may have to demolish them."
Hinting that the BBMP is considering an extension on the deadline so more violators can apply, she said, “The cut off date was October 19, 2013. Thousands of constructions have taken place since, especially on the outskirts.” She added that money earned through Akrama Sakrama will run into hundreds of crores, which will give the BBMP a big boost.
Supreme Court says no to an Akrama Sakrama that Rewards Law Breakers and Greedy Builders: Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Member of Parliament and co-petitioner against Akrama Sakrama
Friday’s stay by the Supreme Court on the Akrama Sakrama scheme is a major win and heralds hope and triumph, appropriately so with the onset of this New Year. Someone on Twitter wrote to me: “@rajeev_mp your fight against Akrama Sakrama in the Supreme Court has support from law abiding citizens of Bengaluru”. It is evident that citizens are standing up in support of their city and have welcomed the Court’s ruling.
Akrama Sakrama is almost synonymous with the current narrative of corrupt political classes in Karnataka. This collusion around public money and land lies at crux of tainted politics here in Bengaluru. In its current form, the message is: a lawbreaker stands to benefit than a law-abiding citizen!
The Government of Karnataka had passed The Karnataka Regularisation of Unauthorised Construction in Urban Areas Act, 1991. However, the repeated use of such mechanisms for regularising illegalities defeats the very purpose of master plans and planned urban development. Criminal deviations by developers and contractors have become the norm in Bengaluru, with a total lack of regard being shown for the prevailing laws of the land.
Instead of considering a reworked proposal that benefits the poor, the government has attempted to project that illegal constructions are largely the dwellings of the poor. In reality, Akrama Sakrama is a tool to regularise the illegalities committed by errant property developers and high-income home owners.
Additionally, the following questions remain unanswered and warrant attention:
1) Why are home owners being penalised whereas builders and developers escape punishment?
2) What about criminal action against those within the government, whose negligence or deliberate connivance allowed these deviations?
3) How is this regularization going to be audited?
4) Is the government sending out the message that corruption and lawbreaking doesn’t mean a disadvantage? Are we creating a culture being created where lawbreaking is encouraged?
5) And then finally, why should citizens comply with laws when new amnesty schemes will be rolled out to protect violators and criminals? Finally, the government’s justification - revenue generation - is a joke, especially when revenue leakages, inflated contracts and distribution of land to corrupt parties are common practice! In all seriousness, the government should safeguard its resources by focussing on reforming contracting, the use of public assets and tax leakages, all of which has been reported by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.If the Government genuinely wants to help the poor, it must reconfigure Akrama Sakrama to create criteria that benefits only the deserving. The legislation should also ensure punitive measures for violators – both builders and errant officials. Only by doing so, the unholy nexus of vested interests, builders and contractors can be eliminated. It is time for Bengaluru to unite around the simple basic principle of democratic governance. It is the Government’s duty to uphold the law and foster a culture of law-abiding citizens. Akrama Sakrama must only benefit the poor, not builders and their politician friends who are exploiting our Bengaluru.
