Bengaluru, Aug 21 — The State Government has provided major relief to lakhs of families who have owned plots and houses in unauthorised layouts across Karnataka for the past three to four decades but have remained caught in legal and administrative uncertainty because their properties were issued B-Khata records.
The Legislative Assembly has approved the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (Amendment) Bill, 2026, a significant legislative measure that will provide full ownership rights to eligible properties in unauthorised layouts and enable them to obtain A-Khata.
Introducing the Bill in the Assembly on Friday, Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said providing every property owner in the State with secure and legally recognised ownership was part of the Government's and the Chief Minister's commitment to a “Land Guarantee.”
“The amendment to Section 284 of the Municipal Corporations Act is being brought in to address the fundamental problems associated with unauthorised layouts and provide a legal pathway for resolving the difficulties faced by property owners,” he said.
Byre Gowda said several unauthorised layouts had come up across urban areas of Karnataka over the past three to four decades.
“Despite knowing that such developments were unauthorised, previous governments did not take adequate steps to prevent them. At the same time, there was also a lack of awareness among layout developers that layouts cannot be created in violation of the law. As a result, property owners are today facing a host of difficulties,” he said.
He pointed out that many such layouts were developed without roads of adequate width, proper road surfacing, electricity connections, underground drainage, reliable drinking water supply, storm-water drainage or proper connecting roads.
“In effect, poorly planned and unregulated layouts were created, leaving property owners without secure and legally recognised ownership of their properties. They have been caught in a difficult situation, though no fault of their own,” he said.
The Minister said the Government, in 2024, decided to take a firm position against the creation of new unauthorised layouts.
“We decided to put a complete stop to such unauthorised layouts and took steps to prevent further violations. At the same time, we also decided to provide an appropriate solution to property owners in layouts that were developed decades ago,” he said.
The minister noted that such property owners had earlier been issued B-Khata, as there was no legal provision to issue A-Khata for these properties.
“However, we believe that ownership can have real security only when property owners can obtain A-Khata. That is why the State Government has now taken this important legislative step,” he said.
Key provisions of the Bill include that roads earmarked in unauthorised layouts often continue to remain recorded in the names of the original landowners.
The amendment will provide a legal mechanism for such roads to be officially declared “public roads” and recorded as such by the concerned municipal corporation or municipality.
Once the roads are formally recognised, eligible plots and houses in such layouts will be able to obtain A-Khata, subject to applicable rules and conditions.
This will provide property owners with legally recognised and more secure ownership rights over their properties.
A-Khata will make it easier for property owners to access housing and property loans from banks.
It will also remove existing hurdles in obtaining building plan approvals and Occupancy Certificates (OCs), subject to the applicable statutory requirements.
The system has already been successfully implemented in Bengaluru and, on the direction of the Chief Minister, is now being extended to municipal corporations, municipalities and Gram Panchayat areas across Karnataka.
While providing a regulated solution for eligible legacy cases, the Government has also put in place measures to prevent the emergence of new unauthorised layouts in the future.
The Assembly approved this landmark amendment, aimed at protecting the interests of lakhs of property owners who have remained in legal and administrative limbo for decades.