Regularisation of illegal structures may be delayed

Regularisation of illegal structures may be delayed
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has several promises to keep. One such, hinted at by him recently was the regularisation of illegal structures built on revenue layouts without proper conversion and approvals.

But Revenue department sources say this is likely to be delayed by a few months as no instructions have been issued to frame a Bill seeking to regularise such structures built on layouts developed on agricultural lands or on government land.

It would take at least a few weeks to get the nitty-gritty of the Bill in place, sources said. It is also highly unlikely that such any measure will be initiated before the Cabinet expansion on Sunday.

Moreover, as per the power sharing pact between the BJP and the JD(S), the revenue portfolio will be allotted to the former and it will take a decision on the matter.

Even if JD(S)-BJP government succeeds in tabling the Bill in the coming Budget session, it will take at least a few weeks before it gets the Governor’s assent. After that, the Revenue department will have to work out details with regard to fixing penalties for the regularisation of illegal structures of varying dimensions.

This, however, is not the first time that a move is being made to regularise illegal structures. In the past, the S M Krishna government had tabled such a Bill in the Assembly.

After being approved by the House it was sent to Governor T N Chaturvedi for his approval, who returned it with certain objections. Later, the Dharam Singh government also made efforts in this direction.

Former deputy chief minister and revenue minister M P Prakash had said that a Bill on the regularisation of illegal structures would be tabled in the winter session of the Assembly.

But that did not happen due to the swift political changes that saw the exit of Congress-JD(S) government headed by Dharam Singh.