Public Consultation - A Sham

PUBLIC CONSULTATION?   WHAT PUBLIC CONSULTATION?

DEAR CITIZENS,

The Govt has tabled a new bill for Bengaluru - the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill.  Facing fierce criticism from all quarters, the Govt has referred it to a Select Committee for wider consultations.  The Select Committee announced a Public Consultation.  But the way it is going about the consultation leaves a lot to be desired.  

1. Firstly, the draft itself was shared publicly only 2 days prior to the consultation. And the draft is also the original draft that was tabled in the legislature. The updated draft with changes proposed by the Select Committee was not shared publicly.

2. And the so called pubic consultation was scheduled for only 3 days after the draft was shared.  The Govt had planned the public consultation to be only for 5 days? On a matter so important and so extensive as this?

3. After demands for several sections of society, the Govt finally shared an email id.  And the email id was provided only one day into the consultation.  

4. No last date has been announced for emails. 

5. There is no public portal on which the consultation and its proceedings are being disclosed.

Is this Public Consultation being done right?  Can we accept the way the Govt is dealing with this issue?  

We've put together a collection of resources below to help understand the magnitude of the task. Please find below information on the bill, and the background of this issue, as well as wider information on the constitutional framework for urban planning and urban governance.  

Please study the material and take an informed stand on this issue. 

Once you study all the resources on this page, you would realise that the Public Consultation required for a legislation of this madnitude or impact is not for 5 days, or 5 weeks, perhaps it requires a structured, robust publc consulation for 6 months to a year, in the very least. And it has to be genuinely collaborative and transparent.

For what it's worth, please do submit a feedback to the govt on this email id: gbasuggestion@gmail.com, requesting for a genuine, robust and transparent Public Consultation.

First Public Announcement:  7-59 PM · Feb 5, 2025 on https://x.com/BBMPofficial   just 5 days before the date of Public Consultation - without any link or reference to the document on which the Govt requires public feedback.    

Second Public Announcement:  11.16 AM · Feb 8, 2025 on https://x.com/BBMPofficial  Just 2 days before the Public Consultation - 

Now a URL link of the Draft Bill has been added to the poster:  https://kla.kar.nic.in/assembly/bills/bill1640_34.pdf

Third Public Announcement:  7:57 AM · Feb 11, 2025 on https://x.com/BBMPofficial  

An email id: gbasuggestion@gmail.com has been provided now to send feedback electronically.

This is the draft bill which the Govt shared for seeking Feedback, Suggestions and Objections.  ⬇️

on the link:  https://kla.kar.nic.in/assembly/bills/bill1640_34.pdf 

THIS IS THE BILL THE GOVT TABLED IN THE BUDGET SESSION OF LEGISTLATURE ON 9TH MARCH 2025, AND WAS PASSED BY THE LOWER HOUSE (LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY):

https://kla.kar.nic.in/assembly/commjsc5/jsc5_rep1_2024-25.pdf

1. CORRECT DRAFT?  The Govt should have presented the draft that was intended to be tabled in the Legislature, which was already revised by the Standing Committee, and not the old draft.  This amounts to acting in bad faith by the Govt.

2. SUFFICIENT TIME?  Public consultations begin 2 days after the Govt shares the draft bill.  Is that enough time for citizens to study such a volume of information and to provide feedback on? What the Govt is unable to do in 32 years, it is hoping the citizens will do in 2 days?  That's quite a lot of confidence in the ability of citizens, won't you say? 

3. EASE?  Being the IT City of the universe, shouldn't the Govt provide electronic options for citizens to file suggestions and objections by Email or an interactive portal? Why are we behaving like a Stone Age City?   

4. TRANSPARENCY?  In fact, the submissions by public should automatically get published on a public portal, listing the suggestionS and the actionS taken by the govt, ie., Accepted / Rejected, and explaining Reasons for the same.   The process and results have to open to public scrutiny.

The Govt needs to ensure a transparent public consultation.

You could still send your feedback by email to the following email ids, that are related to Karnataka Govt, Urban Devt Dept, and BBMP, as well as the Chairman of Joint Select Committee. ( A simple draft is provided in the next section)

• gbasuggestion@gmail.com,  shivajinagar.mla@karnataka.gov.in  - (Chairperson, Joint Select Committee, On Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill)  

• cm@karnataka.gov.in - (Chief Minister, Govt of Karnataka)  

• officeofosdtocm@gmail.com  - Office of the OSD to CM Karnataka

• dkshivakumar1@gmail.com - (Deputy CM & Bengaluru Devt Minister, GOK) 

• lawministergok@gmail.com  - (Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, GOK)

• cs@karnataka.gov.in - (Chief Secretary, Govt of Karnataka)

• secy-law@karnataka.gov.in - (Principal Secretary, Law Department)

• secy_dpal@karnataka.gov.in, ss-dpa@karnataka.gov.in - (Secretaryto Government Parliamentray Affairs and Legislation)

•  acsuddofffice@gmail.com, prs-ud@karnataka.gov.in (ACS Urban Development Dept)

• sccy-ud@karnataka.gov.in  Secretary to Government, Urban Development Department

• comm@bbmp.gov.in  (BBMP Chief Commissioner)

• administrator@bbmp.gov.in, admin@bbmp.gov.in  ( BBMP administrator)  

Union Ministers

• minister-mohua@nic.in (Union Minister - HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS)

• sahu.tokhan@gov.in (Union Minister for State - HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS)

• secyurban@nic.in  (Secretary (HUA))

• b.urmila@nic.in  - (Director DM & A, Urbanization, Niti Aayog)

• Zubair.hashmi@ias.nic.in - (Director, Data Management & Analysis, & Frontier Technologies, Managing Urbanisation, NITI Aayog)

• vch-niti@gov.in - (Vice Chairman, Niti Aayog)

• mos-planning@gov.in - (Minister of State - Ministry of Planning)

• ceo-niti@gov.in (CEO, Niti Aayog)

TO:

The Chief Minister / Cabinet members / Bureaucrats,

Govt of Karnataka 

SUB:  Please conduct a credible Public Consultation regarding Bengaluru Governance.

We are conscious of the fact that with the above bill you are contemplating a new direction for the city with far reaching consequences that affect each and every one of us.  When you are taking such an important decision, it is required of the Govt to hold a proper public consultation with the primary stakeholders, the citizens. 

We citizens are keen to provide our inputs, feedback, suggestions and objections on the draft Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill.  However, you have put us in a difficult situation.  

You have shared the link to the draft bill only on the 8th of February 2024.  And you wish us to submit feedback from the 10th to the 12th of February 2024.  

This gives us only 2-5 days to study the draft, which is nearly 200 pages of legalese, then we need to understand the constitutional framework for urban governance, study the governing law, Nagarpalika Act 1992 (Constitution 74th Amendment Act 1992), study the Model Municipal Law, the Urban And Regional Development Plans Formulation And Implementation Guidelines, Policy Option Paper for Framing Municipal Law in India, etc., Then do some wider reading on case studies throughout India and world wide, and hold consultations with other citizens and groups in the city.  Then we could probably give you some constructive feeback.  

Do you think we can do all that in 2-5 days?  Even if we were expert lawyers, we doubt such a feat would be possible.  

Hence, if your intent is genuinely to conduct a public consultation, we request the following:  

1)  Time Period: Please extend the dates for submission of feedback by 30-60 days.  

2)  Ease of Interaction: The Govt loves to brag that Bengaluru is the IT Capital, the least that the Govt could do to uphold this claim is to at least provide a portal for this public engagement on such an important and big impact event such as reorganisation of the city govt.  At least a website and electronic form or email id that citizens can send feedback submissions to online. 

3)  Credibility:  But that alone is not sufficient.  If you are holding a public consultation, please hold it with integrity and credibility.  Please publish a public portal for the public consultation exercise, which can be used not only for study and submission of feedback by citizens, but also for disclosure of how the Govt moves forward on the suggestions, ie., the Govt must publish each and every suggestion received, and then update the status of each suggestion - whether it has been accepted or rejected, and the reasons for the same.  All of these should be listed opnely for public scrutiny. This would add credibility to the exercise.    The Govt needs to ensure a transparent public consultation.

We are certain you view our suggestions with seriousness and would carry out the above, so that the all citizens get a fair shot at participation in a big decision that affects them all. 

Sincerely,

(Name, etc.,)