Minister behind illegal layout

In a bustling metropolis that is home to the dreams of millions, developers are forever forming residential townships, many legal, some illegal. But who would have guessed that one of the latter could belong to a serving cabinet minister? The minister in question is Katta Subramanya Naidu, honourable minister for major industries in the H D Kumaraswamy team. And the "layout" belonging to the BJP MLA from Shivajinagar is located off Mysore Road, bang on the left of Byatarayanapura Traffic Police Station.

Naidus proposed township has no name. But neither does it have what all residential townships must have — a development plan approved by the competent authority, Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) in this case.

But — surprise, surprise — all of the 112 plots on the seven acre, 21-guntas plot, says the security guard standing on duty, have been sold. The going rate? Upwards of Rs 2,000 per square foot.

As per the Karnataka Country and Town Planning Act (1961), the development plan of every layout requires BDA approval. And the developer needs to set aside 50 per cent of the layouts total area for roads, parks and the like. But all that Naidus layout has are tarred roads and drains.

On his part, Naidu denies his layout is illegal. He says the layout comes under the jurisdiction of BMP and BDA has no role to play in it. "It is not mandatory that you should get the development plan approved by the BDA," says the minister.

But the BDA has a different opinion. "Whether the land falls under BDAs jurisdiction or BMPs, no residential layout or housing project in Bangalore can by-pass BDA," says BDA commissioner M K Shankaralinge Gowda.

“The issue is simple. BDA is the planning authority and BMP is the civic authority. Under KCTPA, every residential layout in Bangalore has to be approved by the BDA, though the land in question falls under BMP’s jurisdiction,” adds Gowda.

Documents made available to VVi ijjaay y T Ti immees sshow BDA warning the BMP that it must not allow property owners to go in for any construction activity in the congested area. But developers appear to have successfully fought a long battle to make the BMP permit the bifurcation of khathas.

When BMP sought opinion on whether or not it can permit bifurcation of khathas, the head of BMP’s legal cell asked the civic authority to direct property owners to approach BDA for getting their development plans approved.

But his opinion appears to have been ignored. Worse, some letters show that officials fast-tracked the documents to allow for faster bifurcation.

Finally, BMP did permit the bifurcation, making the way easier for the developers. They then further bifurcated the khathas and sold them among the plot buyers. Thus the layout came about without a need for the BDA to play any role at all.

The earlier owner of Naidu’s property was Mysore Machinery Manufacturing Limited. When it came under a mountain of debt, the property was liquidated. A professional realtor first purchased the property paying over Rs 3 crore. Then Naidu got it registered in his name along with three others, including his wife Sowbhagya.

At that moment, the developmental plan of the layout was pending before BDA for approval. As the ownership of the property changed hands, someone withdrew this plea from BDA, cutting the link off the planning authority once for all. BDA has a list of illegal residential layouts on its website. But there is no mention of Naidu’s layout.