Illegal buildings will get no licence
by S KUSHALA 12 Sep 2008,TNN

BANGALORE: When three illegal commercial complexes in Bangalore's Banashankari II Stage were found to have had shops and businesses functioning in the premises, Ravindranath Guru did not ignore the issue like other residents but chased it till the end.

A Right to Information Act (RTI) activist, Ravindranath first brought it to the notice of the BBMP. But as usual, the authorities couldn't care less.

He filed applications under the RTI and the matter went up to the Karnataka Information Commission (KIC). Guru's perseverance and an order by the KIC has not only forced the BBMP to close down the three buildings, but also take a firm decision and convert it into a rule.

The BBMP has ordered that henceforth, a trade licence will have to be issued only to buildings with occupancy certificates .

This means illegal buildings cannot have commercial activities functioning from their premises as the health department will not issue a trade licence.

Though the KIC order was issued in May last year, it was sent to the government's legal department for feedback. After a go-ahead by the legal experts, BBMP special commissioner (administration) issued the final order on August 19.

The state legal department's observation was: "The grant of trade licence would amount to authorisation of occupation of a building. Occupancy of a building by any person is not permitted in the absence of issuance of occupancy certificate (OC) by a competent authority. But partial occupancy can be granted in exceptional cases after recording reasons. It is mandatory that the authority consider the feasibility of allowing partial occupancy. In the absence of an OC, a trade licence cannot be granted."

When Ravindranath first saw the irregularities, he started investigating and found that the buildings did not have occupancy certificates . "But the trade licences were given by the BBMP's health department. When I informed the authorities, they were not bothered. So I took up the issue through RTI and approached the KIC. Following the KIC order in May 2007, the three commercial complexes have been closed down and sealed," he explains.

Checking the menace
The new rule is fine, but how will the BBMP check the menace? Every second building in the city has similar violations and Bangalore has a staggering number of illegal buildings - residential and commercial - that have come up with the engineers' collusion.

During the construction stage when engineers check a building, what often happens is that the building would have deviated from the sanctioned plan. But engineers usually give a go-ahead.

Subsequently, occupancy certificates are also issued. The most common deviations are using basement for purposes other than parking and constructing more number of floors.

"If the rule is retrospective, then every commercial building will have to be closed as they would have violated. But since the new order does not mention anything about old buildings, it's a big challenge for engineers as well as health officials to ensure that trade licences are given only to buildings with occupancy certificates ," a senior BBMP official said.

toiblr dot reporter at timesgroup.com

Illegal buildings will get no licence -Bangalore-Cities-The Times of India

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