Bengaluru: The BBMP has received the government’s approval to revalidate as many as 1,179 development right certificates (DRCs) unutilised for many years.
The move is expected to help the builders as the DRCs — currently in short-supply — are used for building additional floors or regularising the existing ones.
Widely known as the transferable development rights (TDR) scheme, the DRCs are issued by the BBMP or the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) to the owner for parting with his or her property for a public purpose, mainly the widening of roads.
Initially, the BBMP had notified 455 DRCs, but the civic body said there are more such unused certificates. Revalidating the DRCs is a tricky exercise as it is prone to corruption. The value of the DRCs is estimated to be at least Rs 2,000 crore, although it is too early to judge as the BBMP is yet to complete the exercise.
Over the next two months, the civic body intends to study the veracity of these certificates and ascertain the value by looking at the guidance value of the plot surrendered. The move is expected to unlock the DRCs wrapped with ambiguity ever since the change of government policy in 2016.
During the exercise, the BBMP may also find out whether the roads — for which a significant number of DRCs are already issued — have been widened or not.
While TDR and DRC schemes are popular in Mumbai and Ahmedabad, the initiative was not successful in Bengaluru as BBMP officials used several loopholes in the scheme to help the builders.
There were instances in the past where the same DRC was used for building additional floors in multiple projects. Following the irregularities, the scheme was briefly withdrawn between 2016 and 2022.
(Published 11 November 2023, 00:11 IST)