Acting on the directions of the High Court of Karnataka, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on issued guidelines for its officials to regularly monitor the process of construction of new buildings after sanctioning plans as per the Building Bylaws-2003 to prevent illegal construction at stage construction itself.
Also, BBMP’s Chief Commissioner Tushar Giri Nath gave an undertaking to the court that during his tenure in the post that he would strictly implement the bylaws and initiate action against the erring officials.
As per the guidelines, the assistant director of BBMP’s town planning department, soon after the plan sanction, will have to identify the Building Plinth Line (BPL) in the presence of property owners or their representatives.
Officers/engineers will have to upload the BPL along with GPS coordinates (from the centre and four corners of the site) and photographs to BBMP’s online portal meant for building plan approval.
After commencement of construction, the authorised jurisdictional engineer will have to periodically inspect the construction site to ensure that foundation is laid adhering to the sanctioned plan and update the GPS coordinates and the photographs in the portal.
The guidelines also state that officers who fail to inspect and upload the data to the portal as per the schedule, would face penal action as per Section 252 of the BBMP Act, 2020, besides facing departmental enquiry while being kept under suspension.
Meanwhile, the court directed the BBMP to publish the guidelines in Kannada and English language newspapers so that the general public was made aware of the guidelines on inspection of buildings under construction
