This tricky and technical question asked by a registered valuator Sathish Babu put BBMP officials in an awkward situation, as they had no answer for it. The officials were interacting with citizens on Sakrama scheme at the Institution of Engineers on Thursday.

He further elaborated that the maximum permissible FAR as per 1972 master plan was 3. Accordingly, hundreds of people had then constructed buildings. However, now under Sakrama one has to follow the 1995 master plan (irrespective of the year in which the building is constructed), where FAR permissible was 2.

“In what way has the owner of building in 1980 committed a violation?” he asked. As per the Sakrama Act, all buildings constructed between May 2, 1972 and February 3, 2007 and having deviations as per set back and FAR rules of 1995 master plan should pay regularisation fee.

BBMP Joint Director (Town Planning) S S Toppagi openly admitted that it is not fair. According to registered valuators many such technical issues has made filling of Sakrama form almost impossible.

The form does not have information on cut of date for the age of the building, or on the guidance value and it is very ambiguous about building plan sanction. “Land conversion order issued by deputy commissioner clearly states that building plan can be sanctioned by panchayats. But as per Sakrama, panchayats have no power to do so,” Mr Babu pointed out.

At last even BBMP Deputy Commissioner Y A Vasanth Rao (Resources) admitted that the scheme may not fit in all cases.