Meeting passes Higher Bengaluru Governance Invoice amid protest

The laws permits for the division of BBMP into as many as seven separate firms inside the Higher Bengaluru space. It additionally proposes the creation of a Higher Bengaluru Authority (GBA) to supervise and coordinate metropolis administration. Moreover, it extends the tenure of the mayor and deputy mayor to 30 months.

Deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar, who tabled the invoice, defended the choice and mentioned: “We wish the decentralisation of energy and administration. We aren’t destroying Bengaluru as a few of the opposition members have acknowledged. As an alternative, we’re strengthening it. We need to make Bengaluru sturdy.” He argued that the laws would offer a brand new course for town.

BJP leaders strongly opposed the transfer, with Chief of Opposition R Ashoka calling it a violation of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s imaginative and prescient of empowering native our bodies. He warned that dividing Bengaluru would set a precedent for related calls for from different areas. “Dividing Bengaluru won’t assist us,” he asserted.

He additionally warned that the restructuring may shift energy away from elected our bodies to the chief minister, undermining the rules of the 74th Constitutional Modification, which mandates devolution of energy to native authorities. He added, “Mayors gained’t be supreme. And, how can we anticipate the CM to carry common conferences? The metropolitan planning committee (MPC) itself hasn’t held a single assembly until date.”

Considerations over governance, useful resource allocation, and Bengaluru’s id had been on the forefront of the opposition’s objections. Ashoka highlighted disparities in financial exercise, noting that town’s jap area homes most IT and BT firms, whereas the western half lags in growth. “The GBA would hamper growth. Disparity in income era may result in inter-corporation fights,” he mentioned.

He additionally drew consideration to the potential cultural affect, expressing fears that the proposed division may marginalise Kannada audio system in sure areas. “In 2006, we created BBMP at a time when Kannadigas had been turning into a minority. It could have turn out to be a Union Territory. We introduced villages underneath town,” he mentioned. “Now, how will Kannada survive in Bengaluru East?”

In response to criticism, Shivakumar argued {that a} single chief commissioner couldn’t successfully handle Bengaluru’s rising administrative calls for. Nonetheless, Ashoka countered this declare by mentioning {that a} single chief secretary manages your complete state of Karnataka, and one Prime Minister governs your complete nation.

The invoice was beforehand referred to a joint choose committee, which offered its report final week. Below the proposed construction, the GBA could be headed by the chief minister, whereas the minister in control of Bengaluru’s growth would function the ex-officio vice-chairperson.

Regardless of the opposition’s protests, the invoice was efficiently handed within the meeting, setting the stage for a major transformation in Bengaluru’s governance framework. With issues over administration, illustration, and Bengaluru’s unity, the laws stays a contentious concern, drawing sharp divisions between the ruling occasion and the opposition.

Vijayan Menon, president of the Citizen Motion Discussion board, criticised the proposed construction as “unconstitutional,” arguing that the invoice successfully fingers over metropolis administration to a ministerial committee, bypassing elected municipal officers. “The invoice envisions a system the place we shall be paying our property tax not simply to the municipal physique, but in addition to a committee led by the chief minister,” he mentioned.

In the meantime, the Legislative Meeting on Monday additionally handed a invoice geared toward defending debtors from harassment by microfinance establishments (MFIs), with penal provisions together with a jail time period as much as ten years, and wonderful as excessive as ₹5 lakh for violation.

The Karnataka Micro Mortgage and Small Mortgage (Prevention of Coercive Actions) Invoice, 2025, piloted by Regulation and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H Okay Patil on behalf of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, was handed unopposed with a voice vote.

With PTI inputs