New Bill passed by Karnataka Assembly gives Bengaluru its own law — here’s all you need to know

• The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) bill provides for expanding the city's municipal limits. The number of wards will increase from 198 to 243.
• Under this bill, BBMP will have the power to fix fees on advertisements, as tax cannot be collected after GST.
• This bill will also increase the Mayor and Deputy Mayor’s terms from one year to two-and-a-half years.

The Karnataka government passed a crucial bill — Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Bill, 2020 — without the opposition parties' participation in the Assembly session on Thursday.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) bill provides for expanding the city's municipal limits, increasing the number of wards and proposes a new governance structure with a 30-month Mayoral term.

"Bengaluru has become more unwieldy, there were a lot of discrepancies with regards to the delimitation that was done last time, also as the city has grown and developed a lot since then, there is some confusion about BBMP, municipality and gram panchayat that comes under. So as to bring it under one framework, we are bringing in this Bill," Law Minister J C Madhuswamy said.

Bengaluru is currently governed under the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act.

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Bill: The fineprint

New governance structure

• Terms of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor will be increased from one year to two-and-a-half years.
• Bill proposes a prohibition of simultaneous membership, under which if a BBMP member gets elected to state legislature or Parliament, he or she has to opt between the both within six months.
• Constituency level consultative committees to be set up under MLA's chairmanship
• Increase the number of zones in the city from current eight to maximum up to 15 with each of them having a zonal committee with zonal Commissioner

Increasing municipal areas

• Number of wards will be increased from 198 to 243.
• Bill also includes all local bodies situated on the fringes of the 816 sq km boundary of the BBMP.
• In a move to improve civic body’s revenues, the bill aims at the inclusion of at least a one km area beyond the existing BBMP limits to bring in IT pockets from outside the existing limits.
• Aims at the inclusion of gram panchayats and taluk panchayats into the new larger BBMP.

Other proposals

• Bill will have the power to fix fees on advertisements, as tax cannot be collected after GST.
• Provisions have been made for them to collect entertainment tax
• Rainwater harvesting has been made mandatory for sites above 60x40 dimensions.

Karnataka Assembly passed the bill without opposition participation

The Bill passed with the Opposition benches empty as the opposition Congress that had boycotted the assembly proceedings against the passage of the anti-cow slaughter bill. Whereas, the JD(S) members did not show up.

When this BBMP Bill was tabled in March, it was referred to a Joint Committee after several city MLAs, including those from the BJP, opposed it. The committee decided to refer it to the 20-member Joint Select Committee in August headed by BJP MLA S Raghu.

(with inputs from wires)

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