On khata records, BBMP finally embraces tech path

Bengaluru: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (Palike) is digitising each and every property register ('A' and 'B' khata certificates) on a war footing, a much-needed shift that could overhaul property-related services that are currently tangled in corruption and apathy. 

The exercise of scanning legacy property records is seen as the first step before the civic body takes the plunge and makes available khata-related services online and on time. 

Assistant revenue officers (AROs) spent Saturday in eight zonal offices of the BBMP to understand the backend process of digitising the records. As the exercise involves scanning close to 20 lakh property documents, the civic body has reportedly taken the help of a private agency to assist the officials. 

The digitisation was taken up on the instructions of Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar who holds the Bengaluru Development portfolio, officials said. 

Once the exercise is complete, the BBMP plans to completely switch over to digital property records. At present, khata certificates are issued in most BBMP wards in manual formats, resulting in loss of revenue to the BBMP and misuse.

For example, properties that come under the ambit of ‘B’ khata have been issued ‘A’ khata certificates. A recently concluded internal probe had found that the BBMP‘s junior engineers had converted property registers of over 37,000 owners from ‘B’ Khata to ‘A’ Khata without collecting full fees. This was possible as the BBMP followed manual process that is easy to fudge. 

Munish Moudgil, BBMP’s Special Commissioner (Revenue), told DH that the zonal joint commissioners and deputy commissioners had been tasked with overseeing the digitisation exercise.

“We hope to complete the work in the next three months. The exercise is also in line with the government’s objective of providing all property-related transactions online and free from misuse,” he said. 

It’s learnt that around 5,000 registers pertaining to 20 lakh properties will be digitised during the special drive. Each ARO has been assigned 50-90 registers. The work is going to be exhaustive as the BBMP, which was formed by bringing towards 110 erstwhile villages, panchayats and urban local bodies, was following different formats while feeding information for issuing khatas. 

Although khata is an important property document that also brings revenue to the corporation, the BBMP has done little to ensure hassle-free delivery of various khata-related services, be it khata transfer or bifurcation.