Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
Credit: DH File Photo
Bengaluru: In a move that could earn both bouquets and brickbats, the BBMP is planning to unlock over 455 development rights certificates (DRCs) that were unutilised for the last eight years owing to change of government policy. Now, the civic body wants to revalidate these DRCs – which are easily valued at over Rs 2,000 crore – as per the existing rules. Some suspect the move could fuel corruption. Widely known as the transferable development rights (TDR) scheme, the DRCs are issued by the BBMP or the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) to the owner for parting with his or her property for a public purpose, mainly the widening of roads. The DRCs, which are two times the property value, are bought by the developers for building additional floors or regularizing existing ones.
Four days ago, the BBMP issued a notification stating the government has come up with fresh guidelines to revalidate 455 unused DRCs by assessing the genuineness of these certificates. Only those DRCs that were issued prior to the amendment of Karnataka. Town and Country Planning (Benefit of Development Rights) Rules in 2016 qualify for revalidation. The civic body has given 60 days to apply for the same.
BBMP’s Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath told DH that the revalidation of DRCs will be done as per the existing rules. “Prior to 2016, the DRCs were issued based on the extent of land parted with (square feet). The revalidated DRCs will be on the basis of guidance value which will take into account the originating plot and the utilization plot,” he said.
Among the 455 DRC owners, including prominent builders such as Prestige Group, Shriram Properties, BREN corporation, Sumadhura Group, SNN Builders, Vaishnavi Infrastructure, Adarsh Realty, Mantri Developers etc.
DRCs in short supply
As the 455 DRCs are worth over 40 lakh square feet of land, the total currency value of these certificates is said to be easily over Rs 2,000 crore. The builders will benefit from this first-of-its-kind move as the DRCs have been in short supply for the last few years due to changes in government policies.
Last year, the government re-launched the TDR scheme but the BDA had not issued many DRC documents till the Congress government came to power in May. The BDA re-started issuing DRCs on the request of BBMP in the last 2-3 months.
“A vault-like system, similar to the standards followed by the Reserve Bank of India, is followed in Mumbai while issuing DRCs. In Bengaluru, there was a complete misuse of what could have been a good scheme. The government should stop issuing DRCs unless it puts in place a transparent system in place,” a source said.