Specification likely to create problems

Specification likely to create problems
Deccan Herald

Buyers will be at the mercy of registration officials as khatas do not have detailed address where the new guidance value has been prescribed street-wise.

With the new guidance value being prescribed street-wise in several parts of Bangalore, some experts have expressed fears that it might not be possible for the property buyers to provide exact address proof as most of the khatas do not mention exact streets.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, property advocate S Selvakumar observed that the new guidance value varies from street to street in some areas. But the khata extracts provided by the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike will not have street-wise addresses in most of the cases, he said.

Higher value bracket

This would mean that the property buyers will be at the mercy of the registration officials in such areas. The officials could even categorise them in the higher guidance value bracket of the adjoining streets depending upon their whims and fancies, Mr Selvakumar argues. Another document consultant N Jaiprakash Rao too feels that there is always scope for misusing the guidance value by categorising property buyers in the higher value bracket.

He feels that there are several “grey areas” in the new guidance value.

According to him, the exercise of revising the guidance value has not differentiated between the properties located on normal roads and conservancy-turned roads, while valuating them.

He demanded that the valuation committee should make a beginning to arrive at specific guidance value for specific properties instead of going by the the general norms like street-wise and location-wise rates. It was possible to arrive at such precise rates with better co-ordination with the BMP and application of IT, he argued.

Agitation threatened

Meanwhile, the BJP state unit has criticised the revision of guidance value in and around Bangalore and has threatened to stage an agitation if the burden on the urban middle class was reduced.

In a release, BJP legislators R Ashok, Katta Subramanya Naidu, P C Mohan and Mukhyamantri Chandru wondered why the government was increasing the burden on the urban middle class in the form of revision of guidance value at a time when it was providing tax relief to multi-national companies.

The new guidance value would not only make it difficult for the middle class people to buy properties, but also render it difficult for them to retain their property, they argued.