Bengaluru civic body cannot decide on title disputes

The High Court has reiterated that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) does not have the authority to decide on the ownership (title) of properties. The BBMP had, in December 2018, facilitated mutation of a property in Nagawara in the name of certain individuals. The HC quashed the BBMP order and said it was against a “long line of judgements which have held that disputes regarding the title deeds of properties shall not be adjudicated upon by the local bodies i.e., the BBMP herein.” S Rajachandran Nair and his wife M Premalatha had been fighting a civil case against some people over the said property of 32 guntas. The BBMP ordered the names of the other people to be mentioned in the property records maintained by it. The couple turned to the HC after the BBMP order. Citing an earlier judgement of the HC, the court said, “This court has time and again impressed upon the corporation authorities that it is not the function of the municipal authorities to examine such disputed facts. It should be left to the Civil Court to pronounce upon the validity of the title and whenever there is a bona fide dispute over ownership, the corporation authorities or the municipal authorities should not be very adventurous in effecting changes or indicating the proper ownership by issue of kathas etc.”