Devi Shetty seeks TDR

Devi Shetty seeks TDR
Deccan Herald

Could the saving grace for the building by-law violators in Koramangala come from the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike itself. The talk of Transferable Development Rights to help owners with minor violations escape the court-ordered demolition noose is learnt to be back in discussion in the BMP.

On the residents side, among those actively considering the option is said to be eminent surgeon Dr Devi Prasad Shetty.

According to BMP sources, Dr Shetty has reportedly applied for TDR to mitigate the fallout from the violations found in his own residential building. Dr Shetty was among the eight petitioners who had originally approached the High Court. The petitioners had sought to draw the court’s attention to the violation of zonal regulations in Koramangala. The Court, in the course of its hearings, extended its gaze to building by-law violations too.

Sources noted that TDR (introduced as an incentive compensation to people whose land is acquired for road widening) permits the relaxation of setback limits up to 50 per cent. It means that, when the land remaining after the acquisition cannot accommodate the originally permitted floor area ratio (FAR), the owner is permitted to relax the setback limits up to 50 per cent while constructing anew on the same site.

It was noted that the TDR are ‘silent’ on whether it can be reversed - that is, a violator buys a TDR and gets up to 50 per cent violation of setback limits regularised. “Neither does it say it can be used, nor does it say it cannot be used,” noted the sources adding, “It can be clarified. We need the government’s permission (before doing so).”

Last November, when the first of the demolition drives was initiated by the BMP, was also a time when the BMP was trying to get people to take to the concept of TDR. BMP officers had then itself noted that regularising the violating structures will provide “a ready market’ for TDR.

The next hearing on the building by-law and zonal violations in Koramangala is slated for July 7. The BMP has reportedly completed the physical survey of 2,250 buildings in the area and provisional orders (PO notices) have been issued against 80 of them. The total number of buildings listed for survey as per the court order is 6,000.