South First visited an e-Khata camp in the Talacauvery Layout in the Byatarayanapura constituency on 29 March and spoke with the minister to learn more about the goals and with participating citizens to gather their feedback.
Published Apr 07, 2025 | 8:00 AM ⚊ Updated Apr 07, 2025 | 8:00 AM
Karnataka Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda handing over an e-Khata document.
Synopsis: Karnataka Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda launched camps to help citizens of Bengaluru obtain e-Khata. Since the introduction of e-Khata in the state, Byre Gowda has always maintained that it will decrease the number of frauds in selling, buying or registering sites.
Karnataka Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda has launched camps, aimed at helping citizens of Bengaluru have access to their land deeds easily and transparently by obtaining e-Khata. The camps have been receiving a good response.
The e-Khata camps are being organised in the Byatarayanapura constituency in Bengaluru, represented in the state assembly by Krishna Byre Gowda. So far, the minister, along with volunteers, in coordination with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has provided 6000 e-Khatas, in over 50 camps.
South First visited an e-Khata camp in the Talacauvery Layout in the Byatarayanapura constituency on 29 March and spoke with the minister to learn more about the goals and with participating citizens to gather their feedback.
A good number of senior citizens accompanied by their children were present at the e-Khata camp. There were around eight to ten volunteers who were enabled with laptops and wifi. These volunteers have been trained to check and accept the necessary documents furnished to procure e-Khata.
These camps begin as early as 10 am and go on till 6 pm. While the residents expressed mixed feelings over the introduction of e-Khatas, the minister told South First that the initiative was to ensure land deeds are provided without any irregularities.
Prabhakar, a resident of Talacauvery layout expressed his happiness over obtaining his e-Khata on the spot.
“I am happy about the service. If you have proper documents of your property, there is no issue in getting it. I provided all the required details and got e-Khata on the spot. If citizens go to the BBMP office or Bangalore One, there is no clarity regarding the documents that are required to make e-Khatas. Some people also get cheated by middlemen who demand more money to get these e-Khatas done. Here, the process is hassle-free and transparent,” he said.
Ramasubba Reddy, a senior citizen, said, “We approached the minister to conduct this camp in our locality because a lot of residents were facing problems in procuring e-Khata from Bangalore One centres. We used to visit Bangalore One centre daily and had to return empty-handed either due to server crash or the unavailability of staff.”
“Here also, we have been waiting to get e-Khatas because the server crashes now and then. I applied for the e-Khata today and received acknowledgement through SMS. After the Assistant Revenue Officer verifies and approves it, I will get a message where they share an online link and we can download the e-Khata. It might take a week.”
Meanwhile, some citizen reported issues in procuring e-Khata due to difference in the spelling of their names in different documents.
However, a volunteer working at the e-Khata camp noted: “There is an option to enter the right spelling of the applicant’s name. When we do KYC of the documents, the software or system will take the spelling as mentioned in the Aadhar card. In such cases, the person will not get the e-Khata on the spot. The application will be sent to the assistant revenue officer and upon approval, the applicant or owner of the property will get the e-Khata.”
He said that the whole process might take some time.
Similarly, in cases of joint owners, there is an option to add two names in the software. “In that case, KYC will be done for both the owners. When they receive e-Khata, the document would reflect the names of both owners.”
At the same time, several residents expressed doubts about the government making e-Khata mandatory.
Venkateshaiah, (65) a resident, said, “I don’t understand why government is pressuring citizens to procure e-Khatas. The government says it is to bring transparency and ensure that everybody pays property tax. However, to get e-Khatas, we need to produce tax receipts of three to five years. Then how are they going to find people who have not paid property tax.”
Another resident, on the condition of anonymity, said, “There is some agenda behind creating this system of e-Khata. We will get to know their intention only after the full-fledged implementation. The government will never take a step that causes any loss to its revenue. However, with this e-Khata in place now, the number of frauds, including the creation of fake sale deeds, and registering or selling the same property for more than one person by real estate agents will reduce. This system must also ensure to bring benami properties under scanner so that the state’s ex-chequer don’t incur loss.”
Sources said that after the introduction of e-Khata by the state revenue department, the real estate sector has faced a setback.
“One such setback is a delay in the sale of properties to the buyers,” Suresh Hari, former Chairman of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI), told South First.
“However, this is definitely a good move by the government since it ensures transparency in the system. It has helped real estate by ensuring that there will be no fraud. But the process is too slow. The government should have made preparations in advance. They should have outsourced the entire e-Khata system to some agencies,” he added.
He also highlighted the issues faced by the people, “Either there is a shortage of staff in BBMP offices and Bangalore One centres or there are server issues,” Suresh said.
“Several people are not able to transfer flats to buyers since they are waiting for the e-Khatas. Besides this, the government and BBMP had promised an online platform to provide temporary e-Khatas for newly built apartments, but that is not in place yet. The government must address this problem as soon as possible because banks are not lending loans without e-Khatas,” he added.
Since the introduction of e-Khata in the state, Byre Gowda has always maintained that it will decrease the number of frauds in selling, buying or registering sites.
He explained to South First why it is a citizen-centric as well as government-centric initiative.
“Before the mandatory incorporation of e-property, local bodies used to register the site and then create a B-Khata. Currently, since registration has to be done after creating an e-Khata, all kinds of unauthorised registration have been stopped, which in turn curbed a huge loss to the government, the growth of unplanned settlements and the injustice done to innocent people,” he said.
“Due to the incorporation of e-Khata, BBMP, city councils, BDA, other development authorities, municipalities, town panchayats, and gram panchayats have been able to manage accounts in accordance with the rules and improve the process. It has come to light that the number of properties in the state that do not have an e-Khata is more than 1.5 crore.”
“Bringing them under the scope of e-Khata will bring in crores of rupees in tax revenue to the local bodies. Also, due to the e-Khata, those who were paying less tax by underestimating it are now getting an opportunity to correct it. Furthermore, the irregularity of selling the same plot to more than one person/party without proper documentation — just through a purchase deed — has been stopped.”
“After the incorporation of e-Khata, the number of documents being registered using illegal and fake documents has reduced, but the registration of genuine documents has not declined. The illegality of not handing over civic amenity sites, parks, roads, and land that should have been submitted to the government while forming illegal layouts has also been curbed,” Byre Gowda said.
He further explained that before introducing e-Khata, buildings were built without adhering to mandated standards.
“The registration process through e-Khata is going smoothly without any problems. Before its incorporation, buildings were constructed without land conversion or without obtaining approval from the Planning Department — without building proper roads and drainage, without leaving parking space, without providing a CA site, and developing settlements without planning,” he said.
They merely made it look like a settlement, Byre Gowda said.
“People directly divided 30×40 plots and registered them. The buyers of those plots would later register a ‘B’ Khata with the BBMP as it was not possible to register an ‘A’ Khata since they did not comply with the rules. Many changes were also being made to the purchase deed prior to introducing e-Khata,” he said.
“Thereby, registration offices became the centres for the illegal creation of title documents. Currently, registration cannot be done in local bodies without an e-Khata. To get an e-Khata, the settlement should be approved by the Planning Department. Roads, parks and CA sites should be checked by the local bodies.”
“This has put an end to illegal alienation. Therefore, e-Khatas are indispensable. This will help in planned urban growth and help in flood, water problems and garbage disposal. As planned layouts are created, CA sites, parks, and proper roads come under the control of the government and help in government revenue generation and proper development,” he added.
When asked about the issues faced by people after the introduction of e-Khata in buying and selling their properties or to avail loans from banks, Byre Gowda said, “Since the day Cauvery-2 and e-Svatthu and e-Aasthi software were integrated, there were continuous complaints about technical problems in Cauvery-2 software; there were complaints that local bodies were not providing e-accounts, and that the integration was done without giving time. When any new system is implemented, such problems exist for a few days.”
“Currently, most of these problems have been resolved. There is no delay in the registration of mortgage deeds related to loans taken by the public from banks. Information about the registration of mortgage deeds is sent directly from the website to the respective banks for loans using e-Khata,” he added.
He added that all technical problems and server problems have been addressed.
“The registration process through our government website is going smoothly. From 6 January to 5 February, there was an issue in searching applications and from 30 January to 4 February there was an issue in the registration process, due to server problems. They were later corrected. Further, on 7 February, an FIR was registered against the culprits who were tampering with the government server,” Byre Gowda said.
When asked why he took up this initiative in his constituency, he said: “There was a need in our constituency, and residents had been requesting such camps in their localities or apartment complexes. It is quite difficult for us to make the volunteers and party workers understand the nuances of e-Khata submission. But considering the huge advantage it provides to our residents, we initiated these camps.”
“Over the weekend, it took a lot of effort from our party workers and volunteers, but the gratitude and happiness our residents expressed after completing the e-Khata submission made it all worthwhile. We also have the satisfaction of having done something meaningful to protect our residents’ hard-earned savings of several decades,” Byre Gowda said.
Documents required to procure e-Khata
1. Sale deed or title deed
2. Property tax payment receipts (last three to five years)
3. Approved building plan or layout
4. Encumbrance Certificate (EC)
5. Occupancy Certificate (for constructed properties)
6. Aadhar Card and PAN Card of the owner
7. Electricity or water bill for property address proof
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
