Fiddling with Section 14 (A) of the KTCP Act

The state government, which is bringing in amendments to Section 14 (A) of the KTCP Act, will make the change of land use a money spinner for the BJP in the election year. The move will have a far reaching impact on the urban landscape and environment in Bengaluru, Mysore, Hubli-Dharwad and Mangalore as the master plan, which is the blueprint for development of the city, will be overridden by this relaxation.

- - - and this ultimately led to the decision of bringing in new guidelines which will act as annexures to the Section 14(A). The new guidelines will have overriding powers over the Master Plan and also legalise change of land use without any review or public scrutiny.

- - - “This move is illegal in nature and is nothing but legitimising looting public money and compromising on environment, ecology and balanced development of a city. It seems like the real estate lobby is all set to hit a jackpot as they pick up agriculture land at throwaway price and convert them to industrial/ commercial use," sources in the secretariat said.

For the full report in the Deccan Chronicle, click here.

The Act itself can be accessed here. The Sec 14A reads as below:

Sec 14A. Change of land use from the outline development plan (Inserted by Act 17 of 1991 w.e.f. 19.04.1991) —

1) At any time after the date on which the outline development plan for an area comes into operation, the Planning Authority may, with the previous approval of the State Government, allow such changes in the land use or development from the outline development plan as may be necessitated by topographical cartographical or other errors and omissions, or due to failure to fully indicate the details in the plan or changes arising out of the implementation of the proposals in outline development plan or the circumstances prevailing at any particular time, by the enforcement of the plan:

Provided that —
a) all changes are in public interest;
b) the changes proposed do not contravene any of the provisions of this Act or any other law governing planning, development or use of land within the local planning area; and
c) the proposal for all such changes are published in one or more daily newspapers, having circulation in the area, inviting objections from the public within a period of not less than fifteen days from the date of publication as may be specified by the Planning Authority.

2) The provisions of sub-section (2) and (3) of section 14 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the change in land use or development from the outline development plan.

3) (Sub-section (3) Inserted by Act 1 of 2005 w.e.f. 14.2.2005).Notiwithstanding anything contrary contained in the Act, if the change in land use or development is from commercial or industrial to residential or from industrial to commercial and the stipulated fee is paid and the Local Planning Authority is informed prior to effecting the change, the permission for such change of land use or development shall be deemed to have been given.

I myself am not sufficiently knowledgeable about this matter to make any comments. But, the matter was brought to my attention by somebody who expressed serious concern over this development. As such, I thought I'll put it up for discussion here, in the expectation that people who understand the subject will comment on it and therewith enlighten the rest, which could then lead to some concerted action as may be required.

Muralidhar Rao

PS: Another matter of interest is that this is happening even as the city is supposed to be working out its new Master Plan-2035. Discussions on the subject on PRAJA may be accessed by clicking on the following links:
http://praja.in/en/blog/murali772/2012/05/16/revised-master-plan-2035
http://praja.in/en/blog/murali772/2012/06/19/request-suggestions-inputs-cdp-2035