UDD, not energy dept, must resolve occupancy certificate confusion for new buildings: Karnataka minister | Bengaluru News

Bengaluru: Lakhs of house owners across Karnataka are in a fix as they are unable to get electricity connections to their newly built homes in the absence of an occupancy certificate (OC), as mandated by the Supreme Court. While the crisis has cast a dark spell on the revenue of electricity supply companies (Escoms), the energy department has passed the buck to urban development department (UDD) to resolve the issue and help homeowners.Energy minister KJ George, on the sidelines of an event Monday, said the issue needs to be addressed by UDD. When asked about the future of such buildings that will be deprived of electricity connections, George told TOI, “We (energy dept) are not at fault. You should ask that question to deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar. Occupancy certificates in Bengaluru are issued by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), which comes under UDD. If they issue OCs, we have no problems providing them electricity connections.”Sources in Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) told TOI that in all eight districts under the utility’s jurisdiction, over 1 lakh applications are pending for disposal while awaiting new electricity connections. In Bengaluru Urban district alone, over 60,000 applications are pending.Due to the delay in disposal of applications, both contractors and Escoms are in a fix as their incomes have been significantly hit. “Our contract with house owners is inclusive of getting electricity connections. As we are unable to get a connection, payments have been withheld,” said Dayanad D, a contractor.BOXTribunal quashes KPSC quota notification exceeding 50% limitBengaluru: Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal has invalidated the KPSC notification issued on Feb 26, 2024, which allocated 56% of gazetted probationer posts for reservation through tabular classification of vacancies.The tribunal bench, led by chairman Justice RB Budihal and administrative member Raghavendra Auradkar, allowed an application by Madhu BN from Channapatna. The ruling also nullified the govt’s Dec 28, 2022 notification. The authorities retain the right to issue new notifications in compliance with legal requirements.Madhu, holding BE and MTech degrees in structural engineering from VTU, had contested that the reserved category posts exceeded the legal 50% limit.