BENGALURU, 22 FEB

The Bill that provides for selling and purchasing premium floor area ratio (FAR) was passed in Legislative Council on Thursday after a marathon debate and boycott by BJP members.

The Bill, ‘Karnataka Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Bill 2024’, was tabled in the Legislative Council by Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar. The Bill allows developers to build additional floors by purchasing additional FAR and paying a fee of 40% of the guidance value to local planning authorities. The Bill also allows selling FAR.

The premium FAR has been limited to 0.4 per cent and the limit for the Transferrable Development Right is at 0.6 per cent. Premium FAR provision is expected to increase revenue to local planning authorities, which therefore can invest more in developmental works. The Bill provides for the proceeds from premium FAR fees to be used for land acquisition and development of basic amenities. The FAR is currently determined based on road width, zones and other parameters.

Congress MLA Nagaraj Yadav said, “Providing full powers to the local planning authorities to issue premium FAR will speed up decentralised decision-making.” Pointing out that additional construction due to additional FAR may result in congestion on smaller roads, BJP MLA K S Naveen sought government intervention on the matter. “This will increase strain on Bengaluru’s infrastructure and hence the government should pass the Bill only after detailed deliberation by a review committee,” BJP MLA Keshavaprasad said.

Justifying the amendment, Shivakumar said, “We have only simplified the law introduced by the previous BJP government to benefit everyone in the State and enhance revenues for local planning authorities. The previous Bommai government was also planning to amend this law.”

The Legislative Council also passed the BBMP Property Tax Amendment Bill 2024 on Thursday. The Bill, which halved the penalties on property tax, was passed in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.