Karnataka Govt plans to regularise unauthorised constructions

Chief minister BS Yediyurappa and his cabinet, in their first meeting after their resounding victory in the byelections, have decided to bring back the controversial Akrama-Sakrama scheme, albeit in a different format and under a new name. This time the scheme will be restricted to only BDA and BDA-approved layouts. The government plans to regularise about 75,000 unauthorised constructions spread across 5,000 acres in Bengaluru. The cabinet decided to constitute a sub-committee headed by deputy chief minister CN Ashwath Narayan to look into modalities and draw up details of a fresh scheme. Others on the panel are ministers from Bengaluru, including revenue minister R Ashoka, education minister S Suresh Kumar and housing minister V Somanna. “The violations include deviation of building bylaws, construction without plan approval and others,” law and parliamentary affairs minister JC Madhuswamy told reporters. He said the new scheme would be introduced after bringing in required amendments to existing laws, including the BDA Act, 1976. The Akrama-Sakrama scheme was put on the backburner for several reasons, including legal issues. It was first introduced by the Janata Dal government in 1996 and successive governments have tried to implement the scheme in different forms. However, it got caught up in legal tangles and the Supreme Court eventually stayed the scheme.