It takes a year, but you can get khata transferred without bribe in Bengaluru

Officials kept passing the files between different offices, but the residents didn't give up. Finally they got their khatas after an effort of 13 months.

Citizen Matters in the past has explained how khata can be transferred without paying bribe. This post explains the experience of khata bifurcation/transfer done for a newly built apartment by a few of the residents, after following old examples.

March 2017:

We initially heard that Khata transfer can’t be done without paying bribe. Many of the fellow owners of the apartments were under the same impression. Initially around 15-18 owners got it done with the help of builder by paying huge amount of bribe. Their khata was done in 2 months only. We, the rest of the owners, thought we should give it a try to get it done without paying even a single penny as bribe.

We read a few blogs in Citizen Matters about successfully done without bribe and it gave us the confidence to give it a try at least. Anyway, we were not in hurry to get the khata transfer done. We made the time line target of 8 months to get it done after follow-ups. We thought by December 2017 it should be done. We were initially 4-5 of us, and were joined by 7-8 other owners after we started work.

We submitted the following documents, at Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Assistant Revenue Officer’s (BBMP ARO’s) office:

  • Sale Deed
  • Latest Encumbrance Certificate (EC)
  • Tax Receipt
  • Occupancy Certificate (OC) Copy
  • Completion Certificate (CC) Copy
  • Betterment charges Receipt
  • Plan Document
  • Old Khata Certificate

We got the seal-signature over application’s photo copy as Acknowledgement. It was March 2017. We decided one of us would visit BBMP ARO office every alternate week to know the status.

After a couple of follow ups, we decided to give it more time, as we were told it will take time.

June 2017: When we resumed our follow-up, we came to know our files were still at ARO’s office and didn’t move an inch. We started enquiring the status again, and even got the phone numbers of concerned officials and clerks.

July: 2017: Every time we visited the ARO’s office, we were told it was being delayed, but no reason was given. So we thought we need to go in bigger groups, to mount the pressure on the officials.

Meanwhile one of the owners who applied separately before us, got the khata without any bribe. This boosted our confidence.

August 2017: A few more owners applied for khata transfer and the file was getting bigger. In the end of August, we got the information that our files had been moved to Revenue Officer’s (RO) office.

October 2017: When we visited RO office, Mahadevapura, we were told they didn’t receive any files for our apartment.

Now the real game started. From October till January, many times files were sent back to ARO office by asking for more information (that’s what we were being told). Files were getting shifted between local BBMP office, ARO office and RO office. The frustration started mounting.

A couple of us tried taking help from Sakala and made a conference call between Sakala officer, ARO office and ourselves. Every time BBMP official used to say that they would update the status in a few days.

January 2018: From RO office, now we were told to check with Deputy Commissioner’s (DC) office. After a week, ARO said the DC’s approval was done and now it will go to Joint Commissioner’s (JC) approval. When we started contacting JC’s office, we were asked to get PS number from DC’s office. When we contact DC’s office for this, they asked to get the same from ARO’s office first. Thus another thread started.

February 2018: Finally, we got the PS number from ARO and then from DC. When we contacted JC’s office, they denied that any file came to them. We again started running to DC’s office and calling the DC’s Personal Assistant. JC’s office asked us to tell the ARO to meet the JC. ARO’s office told us they had done their job, and it was pending from higher officers, meeting them was difficult.

We were getting frustrated. No one was giving us proper response. We were asked to run around from office to office. Meanwhile another set of owners went with the builder to get the khata done, paying a huge amount of bribe per head.

March 2018: Now we were more serious. We started asking all applicants to visit often or call the officials to know the status. We knew this was their tactic to make us succumb to frustration and shell out some money. We started going in groups and started questioning why things were not happening. JC told us that if the file comes in this office with prior approvals, they will sign and send back for further processing.

April 2018: We went to ARO when we came to know JC approval was done and the file was sent back to ARO office. We started asking them to process the khata documents and hand it over to us, because in another month the state election was due and officials would be busy. We were finally told to pay the property tax, get the Demand Draft (DD) done and submit it. We were quite happy that finally the status reached to DD preparation stage, which was the final step.

We paid the property tax and submitted the DD. ARO’s office said they were waiting for the last DD. We all submitted and then asked for khata doc. We were told to check back in April last week.

Finally, when we called them up in the last week of April, we were told to collect the khata certificates and khata documents. One of the BBMP Office employees was very helpful in the entire course of action.

May 2018: In May first week, we got our khata documents in our hand. Total 18 owners applied and got the khata done WITHOUT paying ANY BRIBE.

Moral of the story:

  • Go in group, with all required documents.
  • Have a few Kannada-speaking guys, ready to visit many times to different offices.
  • Make sure your group has enough enthusiastic people to run between BBMP offices on regular basis.
  • And last but not the least, don’t succumb to your frustration.

Comments:

  1. Arvind says:

    Awesome! Not sure if it’s worth the time and effort but you have shown that with persistence it can be done. One question: why not raise RTI so that BBMP is forced to give a reason for the delay with documented explanation? With RTI, they cannot simply say file in this office or that office. They are required to produce copies of the documents with relevant seals. There was some talk of BBMP trying to escape RTI Act.

  2. S, Gopal says:

    Very good effort..

  3. S K Santhanam says:

    I also got the Katha transferred without paying a single penny for my individual house. Of course this was in 2002. Afterwards I had helped many to get the Katha transfers by submitting the required documents including the DD at 2% of the stamp duty paid for the purchase document,(Sale Deed) fvg Commissioner BBMP. However since the owners were impatient they paid some money and got the katha transferred since they said had no time to follow up and not knowing the local language.
    Now I have a question. Why there is a difference between A Katha and B Katha. In my view there is no such segregation. It is only to confuse owners and extract money. Even after paying mone3y they do not get A katha.

  4. SHANKAR M K says:

    Many may not be aware. During Emergency Period in 1977, in Karnataka, Devaraj Urs was the CM.In almost every government office, if anybody tried to pay bribe for the work done by staff, the concerned staff used to refuce the same fearing immediate dismissal or termination of their services. That apart, any work in any government office was moving in lightning speed without any influence or pressure. Before 6 months Governor’s rule of Mr Dharmaveera, People were forced to Stand in Queues running to Kilometres for drawing their monthly pension at Vidhana Soudha for the whole day. When Mr Dharmaveera took charge, waiting time was reduced to 3-4 minutes per pensioner. Point here is, if the Topman is non corrupt and want to deliver, subordinates have no option other than working. But where are such Administrators?

  5. Dattatreya says:

    Good job, you guyz really have patience to deal with this people.

  6. Ajay says:

    I appreciate the effort and patience. Having Kannada speaking guys in your group is ok, but learn Kannada if you have bought a house and living here. πŸ™‚

    • Rahul says:

      Totally agree with you sir. This was our drawback, we learnt in this exercise.

    • Rahul says:

      1. Believe me its worth spending time and effort. This is the excuse most of us give ourselves and pay money for a task which officials are hired to do. Its a great satisfaction.

      2. Its now more easy to apply via Sakala and track via same. Not sure how much RTI will help. As RTI, we can get vague/misleading answers about timeline.

  7. Neeraj says:

    Good job rahul… thanks for posting the process and hudle to get khata done!

  8. chitra says:

    Rahul, you have mentioned that we can apply for khata transfer via Sakala. Does it really work. Within how many days does it get completed. I had earlier tried for sakala for something else and it did work as that was a simple task. This one looks like complicated. Not sure if anyone can share details on applying through sakala for khata transfer it will help.

    • Rahul says:

      Now sakala is quite improved. We can apply via sakala and track via that only. Few of my friends are trying with it now.

    • Rahul says:

      Yes Chitra, Now Sakala is quite improved and we can apply via Sakala itself rather than submitting document personally. Good part is we can track it and Sakala officers will help us regarding this by questioning BBMP officials in case of any delay happening.

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