Greater Bengaluru Authority suspends six officials for issuing khatas in illegal layouts

The Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) has suspended an entire group of revenue officials in the Begur division of the Bengaluru South City Corporation. The unprecedented action was triggered by evidence that officials had issued khata certificates for plots created in unapproved layouts. This is the GBA’s first major disciplinary move against its own staff since it was formed.

The inquiry leading to the suspensions began after a complaint was filed in April 2025 by Mohan Babu. Acting on the complaint, the GBA sought a detailed report from the Bommanahalli Joint Commissioner. The report confirmed that officials had violated a GBA/BBMP circular issued in October 2024, and also Section 17 of the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act, 1961, which clearly restricts khata issuance to layouts approved by planning bodies such as the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA). The October circular had specifically banned the bifurcation of sites without following planning norms, warning that such violations result in revenue loss and reduce mandated open spaces.

According to a senior GBA official, based on the findings, the GBA suspended

1. Shantesh, Revenue Officer in charge of Begur
2. Narasimhulu, Assistant Revenue Officer
3. Hemanth Kumar, Revenue Inspector
4. Suresh, Revenue Inspector
5. Balalingaraju, Second Division Assistant
6. Bhaghyashree, Second Division Assistant

The inquiry concluded that the group was involved in three separate illegal actions relating to issuing ‘B’ khatas for unapproved sites.

“The first violation involved the creation of 49 sites on 1 acre and 35 guntas of land in Survey Number 31/2 of Naganathapura village, developed by Sanskruti Developers. The second concerned 27 sites carved out on 10.12 guntas in Basavanapura village by Rita Fernandes and others. The third case involved the formation of 52 sites on 2.11 acres in Begur village, on land belonging to Kamalamma. None of these projects had secured layout approval, pointing an attempt to bypass requirements such as adequate road infrastructure, open spaces, and land relinquishment,” sources said.

The inquiry also uncovered that the malpractice extended into the e-governance system. Some of the illegally formed sites had even been issued e-khatas, showing that the digital process considered more secure can still be manipulated when officials collude. To meet the requirement that khata is now mandatory for property registration, the suspended officials allegedly created certificates purely on the basis of self-affidavits submitted by 128 individuals, without demanding any proof of ownership. These details were first entered in the manual register, and the irregularities came to light only when the officials attempted to create the corresponding entries in the e-khata system, according to GBA officials.