SC notice to Karnataka on Premium FAR scheme

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Supreme Court of India. | Photo Credit: File photo

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought a response from the Karnataka government on a petition challenging the Premium Floor Area Ratio (FAR) scheme, while making it clear that the scheme should not be used, for the time being, to regularise unauthorised constructions in the State.

A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant issued notice to the State government on a petition filed by NGO Citizens Action Forum and directed it to file its counter affidavit within four weeks.

The Bench said the clearance of Premium FAR would be subject to the final outcome of the litigation in the apex court.

The Premium FAR scheme allows property owners to purchase additional construction rights over and above the ordinarily permissible FAR by paying prescribed premium charges in a bid to facilitate vertical development and generate revenue for urban local bodies.

FAR is the ratio of a building’s total floor area (gross floor area) to the size of the piece of land on which it is built.

Senior advocate Aditya Sondhi, appearing for the NGO, contended that road width had effectively become the sole criterion for granting Premium FAR, allowing substantial additional construction without adequately accounting for Bengaluru’s existing pressure on parking, water supply, electricity and other infrastructure.

Justice Joymalya Bagchi, who was on the Bench, referred to Bengaluru’s “nightmarish” traffic snarls. Chief Justice Kant pointed to the growth of vertical development in urban areas without corresponding supporting infrastructure.

“It is not that new roads have been constructed, new sewer lines have been provided or bus flyovers have multiplied... We have seen in Gurugram how this system collapses if any natural calamity comes. Because, without adding to this infrastructure, you are burdening the size of the plot with multiple storeys,” the CJI observed.

On June 15, the Karnataka High Court had upheld the constitutional validity of the Premium FAR scheme. It had dismissed petitions contending that the scheme, introduced under Section 18-B of the Karnataka Town and Country Planning (KTCP) Act, 1961, violated property rights.

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