Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike digitises records of 21 lakh properties

Digitisation of Bengaluru’s property records began last year after directions from Bengaluru Development Minister D.K. Shivakumar.
| Photo Credit: file photo

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has now digitised about 21 lakh property records in the city to implement a faceless, contactless online e-khata issuance system. Parts of it will be made public, allowing property owners to check the records online and get an e-khata soon.

Now, property records are maintained manually in over 5,500 ledgers. Digitisation began in 2023 after directions from Bengaluru Development Minister D.K. Shivakumar.

The exercise aims to reduce red tape and corruption over issuing khata, but at the same time also increase property tax revenue. The agency tasked with digitising records has finished the work. However, records of only 700 ledgers have been checked.

The BBMP is conducting multi-level quality checks of the digitized records involving case workers, Deputy Commissioners, and Joint Commissioners. At each level, authorized personnel randomly select records to verify their accuracy. If discrepancies are found, the entire ledger is revised.

The civic body plans to roll out the digitized property records of the 700 ledgers soon after integrating corresponding data from Kaveri 2, the database of the Department of Stamps and Registration.

Once the system is launched, property owners will need to enter their names, complete an online KYC, and upload sale deeds of their properties (which can be fetched online from the Kaveri 2 database) to download an e-khata. Before the system goes live, the public will have a 7- to 15-day window to file objections.

“There are over 2.1 million properties in the city. We have digitised the records of 21 lakh properties, with approximately 50,000 remaining. All properties from the 5,500 record books have been digitised. This system will bring transparency as owners won’t need to meet revenue officials for e-khatas. It is also expected to boost property tax revenue,” a senior civic official stated.