Karnataka Assembly passes bill to clarify GBA's authority over new city corporations

Bengaluru, Aug 19 (PTI) The Karnataka Assembly on Tuesday passed the Greater Bengaluru Governance (Amendment) Bill, 2025, seeking to provide clarity that the newly formed Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) would not interfere with the functioning of the five new city corporations.

The amendment Bill was piloted by Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.

"Though the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act was passed, some people filed a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) in the court. Hence, an amendment has been brought to clarify the point that the Greater Bengaluru Authority would not interfere in the functioning of the corporations," Shivakumar, who is also the Minister in-charge of Bengaluru development, said.

According to the existing Act, the Greater Bengaluru Authority shall exercise such authority and discharge such functions as per provisions of this Act, including with respect to the city Corporations created under this Act, he said. "We have removed it, we will not interfere. Corporations are separate, we don't want to interfere in their functioning." "We are making it very clear by bringing an amendment that the Greater Bengaluru Authority shall discharge such functions as per the provisions of this Act. The Authority will not interfere in the functioning of the corporation," he added.

The Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024, which allowed the creation of up to seven city corporations to manage the city, came into effect from May 15, and the Greater Bengaluru Area was limited to the area that was covered by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

Accordingly, the government decided to constitute five city corporations in the 'Greater Bengaluru Area': Bengaluru West City Corporation, Bengaluru South City Corporation, Bengaluru North City Corporation, Bengaluru East City Corporation, and Bengaluru Central City Corporation.

The Greater Bengaluru Governance Act also provides for the constitution of a Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) for coordination, and 30 months terms for the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor.

The GBA would be headed by the Chief Minister as the ex-officio chairperson, while the minister in charge of development of Bengaluru would be the ex-officio vice-chairperson.

BJP MLA C N Ashwath Narayan asked Shivakumar how he planned to control the new city corporations.

Narayan argued that while the new amendment may seem minor, the Greater Bengaluru Act will interfere in the functioning of the local bodies. "The state government has taken over the powers of the local bodies... there’s no provision for a Greater Bengaluru Authority-like body under the Constitution." In response, Shivakumar said, “Though the court did not accept the PIL, we have made the amendment to avoid any confusion in the future. Our intention is that the Mayor and the corporation members must have full powers on the corporation as per the Constitution.” During the discussion, BJP MLA Satish Reddy said despite past assurances from the Deputy CM to include new areas under the Greater Bengaluru Area, no progress has been made.

Responding to this, Shivakumar said new areas will be added to the Greater Bengaluru Area after elections for the five city corporations have been completed.

"If we include villages as new areas under the Greater Bengaluru Area, then panchayat members will become corporation members. Let's finish the election first, by then their (panchayat members) term will also be over. Then, we will sit with you and decide on including new areas," he said.

Leader of Opposition R Ashoka expressed objection to the English name "Greater Bengaluru" and sought to know why Shivakumar did not choose a Kannada name.

He also alleged that the creation of a Greater Bengaluru Authority is an "attack on decentralisation", claiming that it removes the freedom of corporations and makes them dependent on the government.

To this, Congress MLA Rizwan Arshad said the Greater Bengaluru Authority will only coordinate among the corporations. “The five corporations will be completely autonomous, they are free to collect their taxes and decide in their council on spending the tax collected, and they are free to spend them." PTI KSU ROH