BENGALURU: Munish Moudgil, Special Commissioner (Revenue & IT) of the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), announced that the integration of e-khata with the Kaveri property registration portal has resolved issues in Bengaluru’s property management.
Prior to the e-khata integration, around 85% of Kaveri transactions were linked to unauthorized layouts, illegal revenue sites, unapproved subdivisions, or faulty ownership records. In the 2024-25 fiscal year alone, over 75,000 such transactions occurred before e-khata was implemented on October 1, 2024. Following this integration, those instances dramatically decreased, according to Moudgil.
The GBA Commissioner noted that some entities benefiting from the previous opaque manual process, along with individuals misinformed about the legal framework, are spreading misconceptions about e-khata and its registration integration.
Under the direction of Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, the GBA has been holding 50 open houses every Saturday to assist citizens with e-khata-related inquiries.
Many citizens were misled into purchasing properties without planning approvals or legal municipal recognition. The introduction of e-khata aims to provide transparency, accountability, and legality, the statement emphasized.
The e-khata framework, aligned with laws such as the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024, the Registration Act, and related planning statutes, confirms that e-khata carries presumptive ownership value and is legally supported. Moudgil stated that duly registered sale deeds, gift deeds, release deeds, inheritance documents, and legal conveyances are fully acknowledged. Automation for mutations based on registered documents has also increased efficiency, reducing delays and the potential for corruption.
According to the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act, 1961, any subdivision or partition of urban properties must receive approval from the appropriate planning authority. E-khata enforces adherence to existing laws, addressing illegal layouts and unregulated property divisions.
Previously, manual Khata registries were opaque and vulnerable to corruption, heavily reliant on local officials. In contrast, current property records are digitized, transparent, and accessible to the public via the official BBMP E-Aasthi portal.
The High Court has been presented with numerous writ petitions contesting the e-khata integration, yet the framework has consistently been upheld. The GBA Commissioner noted that the system operates under judicial scrutiny.
As with any significant governance reform, operational challenges may arise during the transition, but these should not be misrepresented as illegal or unconstitutional, he added.
Some stakeholders may feel threatened by the digitization and integration efforts that undermine opaque systems benefitting middlemen, illegal operators, and speculative real-estate practices for years, the statement concluded.
