When the khata issue was opened at Brigade Millennium in September 2009, some of us decided to take the quick and easy route. Some of us chose not to do anything at all. Some took the road less trodden.
Those of us who took the hard way expected that it would mean innumerable trips to BBMP, difficult interaction with officials, lots of time on what was seen as needless trouble – when all one had to do was pay a service fee and have the khata delivered at your doorstep.
I have lost track of the time some of us spent on filling up encumbrance certificate (EC) forms and trips to BBMP Konanakunte for getting the ECs, organising notarising of documents, helping and guiding owners in filling the khata application forms and filing the khata applications. We submitted close to 80 applications and subsequently guided several owners on how to go about it themselves. After submitting the applications, a few follow ups were needed – to remind the officials that we were around and waiting!
Was it worth the time? Depends. We can at least say we did our bit to discourage the scourge of our society. In that I think we stand vindicated – that with a little effort it is possible to get your due through straightforward means by following the prescribed process. The trips to BBMP for submissions and follow ups found the workers to be most cooperative and helpful wherever possible – something one has to experience to believe.
By mid-Jan, we received a notification from the BBMP asking the first lot of 28 applicants to submit the DDs towards khata registration fee (equal to 2% of the stamp duty paid at the time of registration of the property). DDs were promptly submitted. In our case, Rs 125 towards Khata Certificate (Rs 25) and Khata Extract (Rs 100) was also included on our DD amount.
In early March, I collected a notification from BBMP stating that 28 applications had the khatas registered in their names. Till date (June 2010), the khata registration process has been completed for more than 60 owners. The Khata Certificates and Khata Extracts were made available at the BBMP office in Arekere for owners or their bearers to collect.
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