Karnataka HC: No Post-Facto Conditions for Occupancy Certificates After Building Approval
The High Court of Karnataka has ruled that city corporations under the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) cannot impose new conditions for issuing Occupancy Certificates (OCs) if those conditions were not part of the original building plan approval. The court emphasised that post-facto conditions cannot be insisted upon unless the law specifically permits such action.
Justice B.M. Shyam Prasad passed the order while allowing petitions filed by K.N. Venugopal and another individual, challenging a communication issued on July 1, 2026, by the Assistant Director, Town Planning, Mahadevapura Zone-1 of Bengaluru East City Corporation. The communication required the petitioners to relinquish 765.46 square metres of land free of cost to the corporation for grant of an OC for a newly constructed building with a basement, ground floor, and three upper floors.
The building was constructed on a land parcel measuring 2,648.81 square metres, for which the erstwhile Bruhat Bengaluru Mahangara Palike (BBMP) had approved the building plan in February 2024 and subsequently issued a commencement certificate. The respondents argued that the property abuts a road that is currently 24 metres wide but needs to be widened to 45 metres as per the Revised Master Plan 2015. They contended that the petitioners must execute a relinquishment deed for the land required for road widening.
The court, however, observed that neither the erstwhile BBMP Act nor the present Greater Bengaluru Governance (GBG) Act contains provisions enabling such post-facto conditions. “This court must observe that its attention is not drawn to any such provision in the BBMP Act for relinquishment of property for road widening as a condition for grant of sanction/approval for a new building, or a provision under the GBG Act permitting such insistence at the time of issuing the OC for a building constructed in terms of the sanction/approval under the BBMP Act,” the court noted.
The ruling also referenced Article 300A of the Constitution of India, which protects the right to property against deprivation without due process of law. The court clarified that a person cannot be denied this right arbitrarily. It directed the corporation to examine the petitioners’ request for an OC based on the conditions under which the building plan was sanctioned and the construction completed.
While directing the corporation to issue the OC without insisting on relinquishment deeds, provided the petitioners had constructed the building as per the sanctioned plan, the court gave them eight weeks to comply. The court also clarified that this order would not prevent authorities from acquiring a portion of the land for road widening in accordance with the law, should they choose to do so.
