Bengaluru: Supreme Court Tuesday said the Premium floor area ratio (FAR) scheme should not be used for regularising unauthorised constructions in Karnataka.The scheme, introduced in April 2025 under Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act, permits developers to purchase additional floor space after paying premium charges to the civic authorities.Ordering notice to Karnataka govt on a petition by Citizens Action Forum, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana passed the interim order. It added that the clearance of premium FAR will be subject to the final outcome of this petition and directed filing of counter-affidavits by the respondents.Petitioners argued that since road width has effectively become the sole criterion for granting Premium FAR, the said yardstick overburdens Bengaluru’s already fragile civic infrastructure.Referring to Greater Noida where planned development has taken place, the CJI said priority should be given to basic amenities. The Greater Noida infrastructure, whiich is far better, takes care of the next 50, 60 or 100 years. Echoing the same, Justice Bagchi acknowledged that Bangalore has a traffic nightmare, a concern raised by the petitioner organisation.On June 15, a division bench of Karnataka High Court headed by Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru had upheld the FAR scheme’s validity, observing that the Premium scheme is not akin to the Akrama Sakrama scheme, as contended by the petitioners. The said decision is under challenge now.Under the Akrama Sakrama scheme, govt regularises unauthorised constructions by imposing a penalty for regularisation.The petitioners argued that the scheme is similar to Akrama-Sakrama scheme and the Premium FAR scheme could be misused to regularise illegal structures/unauthorised buildings under Greater Bengaluru Authority Act.On the other hand, state govt rejected allegations that the policy serves as a backdoor for regularisation, insisting that no unauthorised construction governed by Akrama-Sakrama will be regularised under the Premium FAR scheme.According to the state govt, the additional FAR is capped at 0.6 of the original FAR and does not waive mandatory parking or setback regulations.The limited urban space leaves vertical expansion as the only viable solution. The revenue collected under the scheme is funnelled into a dedicated infrastructure fund, state govt further informed the top court.However, the bench noted that considering the track record of builders in the country, there is no visible improvement in the basic infrastructure of towns.“It is about how this system collapses in natural calamities. Without adding to the infrastructure, you are burdening the size of the plot with multiple storeys. The builders disappear from the scene once the buildings are constructed. Only the families who will be living there will have the miseries of life. If they don’t have parking space, if they don’t have sufficient water supply, if their sewerage is blocked, all these issues they face,” the Chief Justice orally observed.
