Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot gave his assent to the ‘Greater Bangalore Administration Act – 2024’  

‘Greater Bangalore’ administration’  in action

Kere Manjunath ಕೆರೆ ಮಂಜುನಾಥ್ 

Bengaluru: The ‘Greater Bangalore Administration Act – 2024’ has been notified to divide the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and form a maximum of seven municipal corporations.

Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot had sought some clarifications on the bill on March 25. He gave his assent to the bill on April 24. Thus, the ‘Greater Bangalore Administration Act – 2024’ was notified on Thursday evening.

As per the ‘Greater Bangalore Administration Act – 2024’, the government will declare the scope of the ‘Greater Bangalore’ area. Not only the Bangalore Urban district, but also areas notified by the government, including some areas of Bangalore Rural and Ramanagara districts, will come under the scope of ‘Greater Bangalore’. The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), municipal corporations, and gram panchayats under this scope will be abolished.

According to the ‘Greater Bangalore Administration Act-2024’, there will be a three-tier administrative system – ‘Greater Bangalore Authority’ (GBA), Corporation and Wards. The ‘Greater Bangalore Authority’ must be formed within 120 days of the enactment of the Act. There is a provision to create seven municipal corporations of 150 wards each within the GBA. Each municipal corporation will be named with the first word ‘Bengaluru’.

The GBA will finalize the general cadre and recruitment rules for municipal corporations. Group A and Group B employees will also be appointed by the GBA itself. C and D employees can be appointed by the municipal corporation commissioners, but no disciplinary action can be taken against them. The responsibilities of preparing the city plan given to the municipal corporation under Article 243 ZE of the Constitution have also been given to the ‘Bengaluru Mahanagara Yojana Samiti’ (BMPC) to be formed under the leadership of the Chief Minister.

The Chief Minister will be the Chairman of the ‘Greater Bangalore Authority’, and the Bangalore Development Minister will be the Vice-Chairman. The Ministers of Home, Urban Development, Transport, Energy and the MLAs of Greater Bangalore, Chief Commissioners, Mayors of Municipal Corporations, two members nominated by each Municipal Corporation, BDA, Water Board, BMTC, BMRCL, BESCOM, City Police Commissioner, BMLTA CEO, BSWML MD, Chief Urban Planner of Greater Bangalore Urban Project, Chief Engineer of Greater Bangalore, and Director of Fire Brigade will be the members.

The Authority is responsible for distributing the grants released by the State Government to the Municipal Corporations and will supervise the inter-departmental works and projects. The Authority will also handle major projects like flyovers and tunnels.

The jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporations and the division of their wards, the number of wards, their reservation may be determined by the State Government through notification. The jurisdiction of Greater Bangalore may be determined by the State Government through notification from time to time.

There shall be a Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Joint Commissioners, Standing Committee, Zonal Committee, Ward Committees and Area Councils in the Municipal Corporations.

Governor seeks clarification

The bill, which was passed in the Legislative Assembly on March 13, was sent for the Governor's assent on March 17. The Bangalore Town Hall Organization and a delegation of BJP leaders had submitted a petition to the Governor, saying that the bill is against the 74th Amendment of the Constitution and will create problems like the one that occurred during the division of the Delhi Metropolitan Corporation. They also demanded that the bill be stayed. 

The Governor had returned the bill on March 25 saying, "I have examined both the petitions. This bill covers legal and public interest matters. Therefore, clarification is required on the important issues raised in both the petitions." The state government had given the necessary response to it.

• 22 September 2014: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah asked retired Chief Secretary B.S. Patil-led expert committee formed
• 12 June 2023: Reconstitution of the expert committee formed to submit a report on the division of BBMP
• 18 July 2023: Expert committee reconstituted again and renamed as BBMP Reform Committee (Brand Bangalore Committee)
• 8 July 2024: BBMP Reform Committee submits draft of ‘Greater Bangalore Administration Bill – 2024’ to the government
• 22 July 2024; Cabinet approves ‘Greater Bangalore Administration Bill – 2024’ to create a new administrative system in three phases
• 23 July 2024: Bill introduced in the Legislative Assembly
• 25 July 2024; Approval to form a joint House committee to scrutinize the bill as demanded by the opposition parties
• 22 August 2024: Formation of a joint scrutiny committee of the Legislative Assembly under the leadership of MLA Rizwan Arshad
• 21 February 2025; Submission of a scrutiny report to the Speaker by the joint scrutiny committee of the Legislative Assembly
• 5 March 2025; Presentation of the Greater Bengaluru Administration Bill-2024 in the Legislative Assembly as per the recommendation of the scrutiny committee
• 10 March 2025: Approval of the bill in the Legislative Assembly
• 12 March 2025: Approval of the bill in the Legislative Council with some amendments
• 13 March 2025; Approval again in the Legislative Assembly with amendments
• 17 March 2025; Bill sent to Raj Bhavan for the Governor's assent
• 25 March 2025; Governor withdraws bill seeking clarification
• April 24, 2025; Governor signs Greater Bengaluru Administration Bill-2024

2 to 7; Municipal Corporations

100 wards to 125 wards; Scope of each municipal corporation

30 months; Term of office of mayor, deputy mayor

Elections after August 15: Government affidavit

‘Elections for the municipal corporations of Bengaluru will be held after August 15. By then, all the processes will be completed and ward and reservation details will be submitted to the State Election Commission,’ the state government has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court.

As applied to the ongoing case between the state government and Shivaraju regarding the conduct of elections to BBMP, Additional Chief Secretary of the Urban Development Department S.R. Umashankar had filed an affidavit on February 22.

The state government has tabled the ‘Bengaluru Administration Bill – 2024’ (GBA) in the legislature, and a joint committee of the legislature will also submit a report on it. The bill will be tabled and approved in the budget session to be held in March, he said.

The bill will be signed by the Governor by March 31, 2025. The government will divide the BBMP and form new corporations by May 15. The boundaries of the wards of the corporations will be marked and the redistricting work will be completed by July 15. By August 15, reservation will be fixed for the wards, a final notification will be issued and submitted to the State Election Commission for conducting elections, the certificate explains.