Mysuru royal family to get Rs 1,400 crore in TDR

Bengaluru: In a major decision, the state government has agreed to grant transferable development rights (TDR) worth nearly Rs 1,400 crore to Mysuru’s erstwhile royal family for acquiring vacant land on both sides of the Palace Grounds in the heart of Bengaluru. 

This is one such case where different governments modified the previous orders at least thrice, as it involved granting an additional built-up area of 13.91 lakh square feet in return for acquiring the “disputed land”. 

TDR enables developers to build over and above what is permissible. It is issued by the government whenever it is unable to pay cash compensation for acquiring the land.

In an order issued on March 15, 2024, but kept under wraps for weeks, the Urban Development Department (UDD) confirmed the utilisation of 15 acres and 39 guntas of the Bengaluru Palace Grounds for widening Jayamahal and Ballari Roads. In exchange, the legal heirs of the erstwhile royal family will get TDR certificates, also known as notional land. 

The order, which follows the Cabinet decision on March 14, cites the Supreme Court judgements dated November 2014 as well as May 2022. 

The palace land identified for the acquisition includes a short stretch along Ballari Road (Mehkri Circle and BDA Junction) and the unused stretch along Jayamahal Road (Mehkri Circle to Cantonment railway station). 

The fresh decision, taken by the Siddaramaiah-led government, goes on to reverse the September 2022 order issued by the then chief minister Basavaraj Bommai. The Bommai-led government had dropped the plan of widening the road on both sides of Palace Grounds as it required the government to issue “a huge amount of compensation in the form of TDR”. 

Interestingly, the BJP government reversed the orders issued by the JD(S)-Congress coalition government in July 2019.

Then chief minister H D Kumaraswamy approved the proposal of acquiring palace land by granting TDR certificates. A government order to effect the decision was also issued in July 2019. 

Instead of implementing the orders, then BBMP commissioner N Manjunath Prasad wrote back to the government for a rethink on its decision. “Since the land is in agriculture status with no conversion, no khata, the guidance value to be considered is 0.4 times of sital value. That is 13,91,742 sq ft or Rs 1,396 crore,” the letter dated February 2021 states. “The same will be sold to various builders... This huge amount of TDRs in the market will see rampant mushrooming of concrete buildings in the city.” 

Prasad suggested pursuing the complete custody of 472 acres of palace land by appealing the status quo ordered by the Supreme Court on the Karnataka state legislation called the Bangalore Palace (Acquisition and Transfer) Act, 1996. 

However, the meeting chaired by Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar decided to revisit the September 2022 order in light of contempt cases filed in the Supreme Court. Accordingly, the state Cabinet decided to grant the TDRs to the legal heirs of the erstwhile royal family. Officials in the BBMP said the TDR would be issued by May 17 as any further delay would amount to contempt of Supreme Court orders. “The court had observed that the state government had built a compound wall on the palace land but no compensation was paid so far,” an official in the know said.