Following the alleged Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam, the Congress-led Karnataka government is drafting legislation to overhaul all urban development authorities in the state, a source in the Law Department said.
After the Mysuru Development Authority (MDA) Bill, 2024 – which aims to transform the existing MUDA into an independent body along the lines of Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) – was passed by both the houses of the state legislature in the recently concluded Winter session, plans are afoot to revamp all urban development authorities in a similar manner. This legislation is likely to be tabled in the Budget session of the state legislature next year.
Along with it, a Bill to scrap the controversial 50:50 scheme is also likely to be tabled, the source said. Under the scheme, land owners of a plot developed by a local development authority get 50 per cent of the sites that come up in the land, while the authority gets the other 50 per cent. The scheme is under scanner following allegations that sites were provided to landowners in well-developed layouts in exchange for the land lost in areas located on the outskirts of a city.
The development comes close on the heels of the MUDA site allotment case, which is currently being investigated for alleged irregularities in the allocation of alternate sites to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathi.
Piloting the MDA Bill at the Legislative Assembly last week, Urban Development and Town Planning Minister Byrathi Suresh had said that the legislation was necessary to clamp down on the influence wielded by officials. Like the BDA, the MDA will now be an independent authority generating its own income and governed by the soon-to-be-notified legislation. “Henceforth, the state government will provide grants only for projects such as flyovers, ring roads and the like,” he said.
Like MDA, all other urban development authorities in the state in cities such as Hassan, Mangaluru, Shivamogga, and others, will likely see a reduction in the number of legislators who are part of the authority. While all MLAs and MLCs from Mysuru were part of the MDA, henceforth only two legislators will be included in a 15-member body headed by a chairman.
“Like MUDA, other urban authorities too have implemented the 50:50 scheme. There are concerns that the irregularities in the allocation of alternate sites are prevalent in these cities too. There are complaints that the land losers are not being compensated adequately as per the conditions of the scheme and that some sites were illegally allotted,” the source said.
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