DCM to officials: Form panel to solve apartments’ woes

Bengaluru: The Bangalore Apartment Federation (BAF) on Saturday met deputy chief minister and Bengaluru development minister DK Shivakumar and highlighted issues ranging from property ownership and registration of societies to providing civic amenities.Following their request, Shivakumar directed officials to constitute a committee comprising government officials and apartment federations’ members for coordination on various issues. BAF office-bearers, while reminding the agenda for apartments presented during a Town Hall with the Congress in March, requested Shivakumar to focus and resolve two critical issues: Property ownership and management, and, compliances pertaining to individual property owners and Residents Welfare Associations (RWAs). Vikram Rai, general secretary, BAF, told STOI: “Though there are several issues requiring the government’s attention, to begin with, we presented two crucial issues that would impact many across Karnataka. These issues also require legislative push as they involve other departments. The DyCM agreed to resolve these and has instructed officials to constitute a committee at the earliest.”The members also sought efficient coordination for various compliances with agencies such as KSPCB, fire and emergency department, electrical inspectorate and commercial taxes (GST) departments.The delegation sought complete implementation of the Karnataka Apartment Ownership Act (KAOA)-1972 by amending the Karnataka Registration Rules-1965, Karnataka Apartment Rules-1974 and revenue rules of various municipal bodies.“Our objective is to ensure that the whole property, including apartment units, all assets and land these are built on are conveyed rightfully to the group of owners. Currently, many apartment RWAs are being registered under Karnataka Societies Registration Act-1969. They need to be merged with KAOA,” a BAF office-bearer said. Members felt that the proposed committee be attached to the housing department to enable it to focus on similar issues in other parts of Karnataka for a unified approach. “Hopefully, the committee will be constituted at the government level in a few weeks,” a Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) apartment cell member said.
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