The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : State committed to implement reforms

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 18, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

State committed to implement reforms

Swathi Shivanand

An order was passed on September 26 for four reforms under JNNURM scheme

State must reduce stamp duty from the current 7 per cent to 5 per cent by 2011-12
Urban planning to be taken up by local
elected bodies

BANGALORE: Amid the flurry of activity after the fall of the H.D. Kumaraswamy Government, an important resolution with State-wide implications was effected quietly, bypassing public attention.

The then State Cabinet passed an order on September 26 committing itself to four mandatory reforms to be implemented in 2008-09, as part of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), a scheme in which the Centre provides funds to select cities for developing infrastructure and services.

In the coming year, all urban local bodies in the State must form Area Sabhas in each of its wards. These sabhas will generate proposals and determine the priority of schemes and development programmes to be implemented, and identify eligible people for beneficiary-oriented schemes under its jurisdiction. To effect this change, titled the ‘Community Participation Law’, the State will amend the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976, a law that governs the functioning of urban local bodies.

Another important mandatory reform is reducing stamp duty to 5 per cent by 2011-12, the end of the JNNURM scheme. The State Government, in this resolution, committed to reduce stamp duty by 0.5 per cent every year (it is currently 7 per cent).

The reasoning behind the reduction of stamp duty is “to establish an efficient real estate market with minimum barriers on transfer of property”, the cabinet resolution states.

After a recent review meeting, the Centre directed the State Governments to reduce the stamp duty to the stipulated rate earlier than 2012, officials at Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation (KUIDFC), the nodal agency for JNNURM, told The Hindu. The State will have to soon accelerate the rate of reduction of stamp duty, an official said.

Public Disclosure Law

The State Government has also committed to amending the Karnataka Municipal Accounting and Management Rules, 2006 and the Karnataka Local Fund Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2003 to comply with the requirements of Public Disclosure Law in the coming year.

Under this law, Government departments and public-owned companies will have to disclose its annual performance statements, duties and functions.

Altered

Urban planning, which until now had been the function of the respective urban development authorities, will soon be taken up by the local elected bodies.

While district planning committees have been constituted in smaller cities, the details of the formation of the Metropolitan Planning Committee are being worked out, KUIDFC officials said.

The Expert Committee on Greater Bangalore, headed by eminent scientist K. Kasturirangan, is looking into this aspect and will soon submit a report, officails said.

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