Bengaluru: Govt. redistributes IAS, KAS officers in BBMP to GBA and five corporations

The Urban Development Department (UDD) has issued orders redistributing Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), and Karnataka Administrative Service (KAS) officers in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) between the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) and five corporations in the city, expected to come into effect from September 2.

The BBMP had 16 IAS, 2 IPS and 19 KAS officers and one DySP, who have now been redistributed. 

The orders indicate the new administrative setups at the GBA and each of the five corporations. Technical posts like chief engineer, town planners are not part of the orders issued on Saturday.

GBA will be headed by a Chief Commissioner, an IAS officer of the rank of Principal Secretary and above. GBA will have four special commissioners - one in charge of Administration, Revenue and IT, three others for Health and Education; Climate Action Cell;  Elections, Disaster Management; Public Relations, and Coordination, and Finance. The order constituting GBA issued earlier shows that GBA will have a Chief Engineer and a Chief Town Planner. In addition, it will have two KAS officers in charge of Administration, Elections, and IT.

The entire Bengaluru Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) is placed under the GBA.

Tasking a special commissioner of coordination between various parastatals brought on a single platform for the first time, apart from a special commissioner heading Climate Action Cell and Disaster Management, is being seen as a positive measure. However, posting a special commissioner for Health and Education, expected to be the domain of the corporations, has raised eyebrows. 

At each of the five corporations, there will be a Commissioner and an Additional Commissioner (Development), who will be IAS officers and an Additional Commissioner (Revenue) and a Zonal Joint Commissioner, who will be KAS officers. 

In the earlier BBMP setup, KAS officers used to head cells on Land Acquisition, Transferable Development Rights, Estates, and Advertisements, among others. There is currently no clarity on where these posts will be placed, whether at the GBA or at each of the five corporations, and who will lead these cells.