An rticle about " To solve Property related Problems "

To solve Property related Problems

Bangalore city has grown by leaps and bounds in the last two three decades especially after the IT boom of the eighties. The real estate sector has also kept pace with the growth of the cityand the number of properties have also grown in lakhs. The city area has increased to more than 800sq kms from mere 130 sq kms three decades ago. Thus there are nearly 18-19 lakhs properties at present in the city limits, out of which BBMP is getting tax from 15-16lakhs properties. With the rise in property prices many illegal layouts have sprung up and the frauds in the property dealings have also increased. In many cases a single property is sold to many innocent buyers who are knocking at the doors of courts. Similarly, many financial institutions and Banks have been duped by the fraudsters by availing loans from several banks on a single property with forged documents.

To deal with the above problems and to make property transactions transparent the Survey and Settlement and Land records Department of BBMP has launched a novel project, (UPOR) – Urban Property Ownership Project under which the Property Register Cards (PRC) will be issued to the eligible property owners in the Bangalore City. As per Mr.V.Ponnuraj,Commissioner, of the said department, in the First Phase the department will implement this project in 50wards out of the 198wards in the city and all wards will be covered in 2-3 years time.  He also said the project will be implemented through private agencies which will be paid by the department and not through (PPP) private public partnership model. The onetime cost per property card will be around R.300 – 400, which will be collected from the property owners at the time of issue of  PRC’s.

What is Property Record Card?

The department will maintain in one property register all the details of the individual properties in a database of the newly developed software for this purpose. It will contain details of the individual properties such as ownership, any liabilities on the property, survey details on a map such as shape, area, dimensions etc, and also map of the locality. This will be made compulsory for all properties in the city. This will give an identity to the property and can be used in property transactions, for availing bank loans, to pay property taxes etc.   

How Project will be implemented?

Before doing survey every property owner will be issued a notice and afterwards the officials will demarcate the boundaries of the property. The officials will take some photographs of the property and will also collect details of mode of acquisition as to whether ancestral property, allotment by BDA, allotment from housing societies, Tax paid details, liabilities on the property etc., and these details will be stored in the database after cross checking with the records of the relevant government departments.  For this purpose software is created and this will bring down the implementation period to 2-3years from 5 -10 years if done manually.

Every property will have a file containing hard and soft copies of the details. Once the draft PRC is ready the same will be issued to the property owners. The same will also be published in department website, in city survey offices and published in leading Newspapers calling for any objections from general public / property owners within a period of 30days. The officials are vested with quasi judicial powers who will look into the objections  and in case of minor objections the same  will be resolved by them. If there are any major objections, court litigations, the same will be recorded in the property file. After completing these formalities the final PR card will be generated and issued to the property owners. At the time of issue of PR card owners photograph and hand biometrics (all ten fingers) will be taken. The prescribed charges will be collected at the time of issue of final PR cards.

Benefits to the citizens 

The PR card will be the identity of the property.  This can be used by the property owners in all property related transactions, can easily avail bank loans as the burden on the property will be reflected in the card, can use it for paying property tax.  The card will be handy at the time of applying for modifications, building plans approval and other dealings with the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike. The khata is only an account with the BBMP for collection of taxes and is not a property title, as everyone believes.  Similarly, the Sale Deed is one of the documents of property which authenticates the Sale Transaction and will not confirm ownership, since the Sub- Registrar’s office will not verify genuineness of the property ownership at the time of registration. Since, the PR card includes all the details of the property such as mode of acquisition, measurements, photos, survey report, locality map, any loans on property, etc., the PR card will confirm the ownership of the property. The sale transactions takes place faster since obtaining legal opinion work will be minimized and frauds will also be avoided. The buyers will also get benefited since PR cards will contain more details of the irregularities in the property such as illegal layouts, encroached properties, litigation properties etc.

Benefits to the civic authorities

The civic authorities will have detailed database of all the properties under its limits and can easily monitor civic and tax collection issues. The illegal layouts, encroached properties, building plan violations etc., can be easily monitored and appropriate actions can be taken against the violators as per law. Once all the properties are added to the database of the software tax evasion can be curbed thereby increasing the revenue of the concerned authorities. The authorities can provide better amenities to the residents and improve infrastructure, with increase in revenue collections.

Conclusion

The aim of the project is quite laudable and very useful if effectively implemented as planned. The authorities must take foolproof measures to plug any loopholes at the time of implementation of the project. Further, the project has to be implemented within the time frame fixed.

Bangalore city has grown by leaps and bounds in the last two three decades especially after the IT boom of the eighties. The real estate sector has also kept pace with the growth of the city and the number of properties have also grown in lakhs. The city area has increased to more than 800sq kms from mere 130 sq kms three decades ago. Thus there are nearly 18-19 lakhs properties at present in the city limits, out of which BBMP is getting tax from 15-16lakhs properties. With the rise in property prices many illegal layouts have sprung up and the frauds in the property dealings have also increased. In many cases a single property is sold to many innocent buyers who are knocking at the doors of courts. Similarly, many financial institutions and Banks have been duped by the fraudsters by availing loans from several banks on a single property with forged documents.

To deal with the above problems and to make property transactions transparent the Survey and Settlement and Land records Department of BBMP has launched a novel project, (UPOR) – Urban Property Ownership Project under which the Property Register Cards (PRC) will be issued to the eligible property owners in the Bangalore City. As per Mr.V.Ponnuraj,Commissioner, of the said department, in the First Phase the department will implement this project in 50wards out  of the 198wards in the city and all wards will be covered in 2-3 years time. He also said the project will be implemented through private agencies which will be paid by the department and not through (PPP) private public partnership model. The onetime cost per property card will be around R.300 – 400, which will be collected from the property owners at the time of issue of  PRC’s.

What is Property Record Card?

The department will maintain in one property register all the details of the individual properties in a database of the newly developed software for this purpose. It will contain details of the individual properties such as ownership, any liabilities on the property, survey details on a map such as shape, area, dimensions etc, and also map of the locality.  This will be made compulsory for all properties in the city. This will give an identity to the property and can be used in property transactions, for availing bank loans, to pay property taxes etc.   

How Project will be implemented?

Before doing survey every property owner will be issued a notice and afterwards the officials will demarcate the boundaries of the property.  The officials will take some photographs of the property and will also collect details of mode of acquisition as to whether ancestral property, allotment by BDA, allotment from housing societies, Tax paid details, liabilities on the property etc., and these details will be stored in the database after cross checking with the records of the relevant government departments.  For this purpose software is created and this will bring down the implementation period to 2-3years from 5 -10 years if done manually.

Every property will have a file containing hard and soft copies of the details. Once the draft PRC is ready the same will be issued to the property owners. The same will also be published in department website, in city survey offices and published in leading Newspapers calling for any objections from general public / property owners within a period of 30days. The officials  are vested with quasi judicial powers who will look into the objections  and in case of minor objections the same  will be resolved by them. If there are any major objections, court litigations, the same will be recorded in the property file. After completing these formalities the final PR card will be generated and issued to the property owners.  At the time of issue of PR card owners photograph and hand biometrics (all ten fingers) will be taken. The prescribed charges will be collected at the time of issue of final PR cards.

Benefits to the citizens 

The PR card will be the identity of the property.  This can be used by the property owners in all property related transactions, can easily avail bank loans as the burden on the property will be reflected in the card, can use it for paying property tax.  The card will be handy at the time of applying for modifications, building plans approval and other dealings with the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike. The khata is only an account with the BBMP for collection of taxes and is not a property title, as everyone believes.  Similarly, the Sale Deed is one of the documents of property which authenticates the Sale Transaction and will not confirm ownership, since the Sub- Registrar’s office will not verify genuineness of the property ownership at the time of registration. Since, the PR card includes all the details of the property such as mode of acquisition, measurements, photos, survey report, locality map, any loans on property, etc., the PR card will confirm the ownership of the property. The sale transactions takes place faster since obtaining legal opinion work will be minimized and frauds will also be avoided.  The buyers will also get benefited since PR cards will contain more details of the irregularities in the property such as illegal layouts, encroached properties, litigation properties etc.

Benefits to the civic authorities

The civic authorities will have detailed database of all the properties under its limits and can easily monitor civic and tax collection issues. The illegal layouts, encroached properties, building plan violations etc., can be easily monitored and appropriate actions can be taken against the violators as per law.  Once all the properties are added to the database of the software tax evasion can be curbed thereby increasing the revenue of the concerned authorities. The authorities can provide better amenities to the residents and improve infrastructure, with increase in revenue collections.

Conclusion

The aim of the project is quite laudable and very useful if effectively implemented as planned. The authorities must take foolproof measures to plug any loopholes at the time of implementation of the project. Further, the project has to be implemented within the time frame fixed.