Wednesday, June 29, 2011

B KATHA- READ DECCAN HERALD DATED 30-06-2011-


‘B’ khata is bogus: Siddaiah, Commissioner, BBMP,Bangalore, June 29,
Palike Commissioner says no such category exists

BBMP Commissioner Siddaiah said on Wednesday that there is no such document called ‘B’ khata, which, ironically enough is issued by the Palike offices. There is now every reason to believe that the ‘B’ in the ‘B’ khata, the semi-official document being used in land transactions stands for ‘bogus.’

The general perception among the public has been that a ‘B’ khata on a revenue property is a kind of surety that their property is not illegal. It is not true. Banks that had given loans on the strength of the document later stopped doing so when they realised that the document was not valid.

On Wednesday, the floor leader of JD(S) Padmanabha Reddy raised the issue in the House, declaring that the ‘B’ khata is “nothing but a mirage”. Yet the BBMP officials harass people for issuing a B khata, said Reddy, adding that the arrangement was only to make every property owner in Bangalore pay tax.

Reddy told the House that there are two registers of properties in the revenue offices - the ‘A’ register listing legitimate residential or commercial property, and the ‘B’ register listing properties that are illegal as per the KMC Act.

“There is no provision under the KMC Act to issue ‘B’ khata. Because an illegal property is listed in the ‘B’ register, the Palike devised on its own a ‘B’ khata,” said Reddy.

Palike Commissioner Siddaiah, who was unaware of this practice of the Palike officials initially, said the ‘B’ khata is a valid document, but later when the deputy commissioner (revenue) briefed him that Reddy’s statement was correct, he too had to admit that there is no significance of ‘B’ khata as such. The commissioner then said Palike officials may have devised the practice to tax the facilities provided to the property owners of illegal layouts.


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