State govt tables bill in assembly empowering BBMP to declare any street public in Bengaluru

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government on Tuesday tabled a bill in the assembly that empowers the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to declare any street in the city as public street and assess the development of private roads under its jurisdiction. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (Amendment) Bill, 2025, presented by Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil, on behalf of Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, seeks to amend the 2020 Act.

The bill grants BBMP authorities (zonal commission), power to designate any street as public and oversee the development of private roads within the civic body's limits. "If a private street including the drains are in a poor condition endangering public safety and health, the Zonal Commissioner may, with respect to a private street, on his own accord or upon a request by the owners of the said private street or the owners of the buildings and lands fronting or abutting on such a street, by a public notice and notice to such owners, inform his intention to declare the said private street or part thereof, a public street," the Bill said. Upon considering the objections if any, the Zonal Commissioner may declare such street or part of the street to be a public street, it said.

"In case the private street falls in more than one zone then the concerned Zonal Commissioners shall jointly issue the notice and thereupon declare the street or part thereof as a public street." It also enables the corporation to take decisions in matters related to fixing the rate of fee, levy or penalty in accordance with Article 243X of the Constitution of India; to reduce the ceiling limit and to bring fee on parity with scrutiny fee for building license, commencement certificate and occupancy certificate. The bill further prevents unauthorized construction and also use of the unauthorized building or part of the building by the owner or person.

Also tabled was the Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2025, to bring in all assets under the purview of the rural local authorities under their network of financial resources. The bill extends provisions of property tax to the premises and buildings in unauthorised settlements, other than government land and to unauthorised buildings in official settlements, as provided in the 1993 Act. It also proposes a penalty on officers in case of non-compliance with provisions of the law.