E-Paper
The greater Bengaluru governance act, 2024: Recasting tools of decision-making
This paper is authored by Ramanath Jha, ORF, New Delhi.
The Government of Karnataka, in May 2025, decreed the Karnataka Act No. 36 of 2025, The Greater Bengaluru Governance Act (GBGA), 2024 for the Greater Bengaluru Area. This was in view of urban governance issues arising in the megacity of Bengaluru, for which the existing urban governance structure had become obsolete. Having replaced the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Act of 2020, the GBGA, it is hoped, will introduce greater coordination and quality management into the city’s urban governance. However, while the Act states that decentralisation, improved efficiency, and citizen participation are some of its primary objectives, its structure suggests a centralisation of authority under the state government and the weakening of the constitutional spirit of empowered local self-governance.
For the last five decades, Bengaluru has been facing unprecedented population growth and a resultant rise in density. While the megacity’s economic growth has been impressive, it has also been witnessing the emergence of livability issues such as traffic congestion that tops the list of Indian cities, worsening air pollution, environmental degradation, the degradation of natural resources, loss of more than five dozen lakes since 1965, problems of sanitation, water distress, and high costs of living.
Before 2020, the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (KMC) Act, 1976, constituted the statutory framework for the city of Bengaluru. When the city expanded in geography and population, the KMC Act of 1976 was replaced by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Act of 2020. As the city’s problems exacerbated, it became increasingly clear that the existing governance structure was no longer fit for managing the challenges facing Bengaluru. Thus, the Karnataka Act No. 36 of 2025, The Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024, was brought into force on May 14, 2025 (henceforth addressed in this article as Greater Bengaluru Governance Act or GBGA).
This paper can be accessed here.
This paper is authored by Ramanath Jha, ORF, New Delhi.
