BDA, BMRDA or a planning authority: what an approved layout in Bengaluru actually means for a plot buyer

Every plot brochure on the roads out of Bengaluru says approved. BDA approved, BMRDA approved, DC converted, panchayat approved, sometimes all four on one hoarding. The words are not interchangeable, and some of them are not approvals of a layout at all. A buyer of a site needs to know which body could sanction the layout where the land sits, whether it did, and whether the particular site being sold has been released for sale. This guide explains who sanctions what around Bengaluru, what RERA Karnataka records about it, and the papers that answer each question.

Who can sanction a layout around Bengaluru#

The Bangalore Development Authority. Plans and sanctions layouts within its own local planning area, the core of the city and its nearer suburbs.

The local planning authorities in the BMRDA region. The Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority covers the wider region around the city. Within it, layouts are sanctioned through local planning authorities such as Anekal, Hoskote and Nelamangala, and near the airport through the Bangalore International Airport Area Planning Authority. Guides published by Housing.com and others describe the BMRDA's own role as framing the rules these authorities work under, so a brochure that says "BMRDA approved" should lead you to the sanction order and the body that signed it.

Urban development authorities elsewhere. Mysuru, Mangaluru, Hubballi-Dharwad, Kalaburagi and other cities have their own, and they sanction most of the plotted layouts outside Bengaluru.

What is not a layout approval. A conversion order allows the land to be used for a non-agricultural purpose; it does not lay out roads, parks and sites. A gram panchayat collects tax and keeps records; a 2025 circular from the state's rural development department, reported by The Realty Today, says no new khata is to be issued for sites unless the layout was first approved by the competent planning authority.

What the register records#

RERA Karnataka asks each promoter to name the approving authority. For the 744 plotted registrations in Bengaluru Urban, this is what they filed:

The blank field is common enough that it says nothing on its own, but it means the answer has to come from the documents. Across the whole register, an approved layout plan is uploaded on 6,815 registrations, a relinquishment deed on 5,129 and a plot spreadsheet listing every site on 2,937.

The papers that make a site sellable#

1. The layout sanction. The approved layout plan with its order number, date and the authority that signed it. Your site's number must appear on it.
2. The conversion order. For each survey number under the layout, for residential use and the full extent.
3. The relinquishment deed. Under the 2021 amendment of the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act described by TeamLease RegTech, before the first sites are released the developer must register a deed handing the roads, parks and playgrounds to the local authority and the civic amenity areas to the planning authority, without compensation. It is what makes the layout's roads public roads.
4. The release order covering your site. Under the two-stage release in the same amendment, the authority releases 40 percent of sites first and the remaining 60 percent only after the development works are complete, and corner sites are mortgaged to it as security; a 2020 amendment also allows a layout to be developed in three phases, each released as its works are finished. Either way, ask which release your site belongs to. A site not yet released cannot be lawfully sold as a finished site.
5. The khata for your site. An A khata or e-khata in Bengaluru, an E-Aasthi record in other towns, or an e-Swathu record under a gram panchayat. A khata, B khata and e-khata explains the difference.

The quickest first check is free: every plotted layout registered in Bengaluru Urban is listed on Bengaluru Urban's district page. A layout that is not there, and is not small enough to be exempt, is the first thing to ask about.

An analogy: the licence, not the driving school#

A driving school can give you a certificate saying you completed its course. Only the regional transport office can give you a licence, and only the licence lets you drive. A brochure's "approved" is the driving school's certificate: it may be true, and it is not the document that counts. The layout sanction, with its number and the signature of the authority that had the power to issue it, is the licence.

Karthik's father and the site near Hoskote#

Names and numbers in this story are illustrative. Karthik's father wanted a 30 by 40 site near Hoskote to build on after he retired, and a layout there advertised "BMRDA approved, DC converted, ready to register". Karthik opened the project on RERA Karnataka. The approving authority field said BMRDA, and the uploaded documents included a layout plan and a relinquishment deed. He asked the developer for the sanction order and the release order. The sanction order was issued by the Hoskote planning authority, which was as it should be. The release order covered the first 40 percent of sites, and the site his father had chosen was in the second release, not yet issued. The developer offered an equivalent site in the first release instead, and Karthik's father took it.

The decision for a plot buyer#

• Sanction order from the competent authority, your site released, khata issued. The ordinary case. Read the title papers next.
• Sanction order, but your site is not yet released. Wait for the release, or choose a site that has been released.
• Only a conversion order or a panchayat record. There is no approved layout. Do not treat the plot as a site in one.
• Not on the register and not exempt. Ask why. A layout above 500 square metres that is not registered is outside the public record, and its promoter is outside the regulator's reach.

The land beneath the layout, survey number by survey number, is covered in RTC, khata and the encumbrance certificate and reading a project's land title chain on RERA Karnataka. How to read a sanctioned plan in general is in how to read a sanctioned plan, and the portal check as a whole is in how to check a project on RERA Karnataka.

What the free page shows#

ReraGenie's free page for a RERA Karnataka plotted development lists every document the promoter filed, including the approved layout plan, the relinquishment deed, the conversion certificate, the plot spreadsheet and the land papers by survey number, and names the landowners on file. The approving authority the promoter named is on the project's page on the RERA Karnataka portal. Buyer reports, the project watch and alerts cover MahaRERA projects only for now. Every Bengaluru project is on Bengaluru Urban's district page.

Printable checklist#

• Layout sanction order seen: number, date, signing authority, my site on the plan.
• Conversion order for every survey number, residential use, full extent.
• Relinquishment deed for roads, parks and civic amenity areas registered.
• Release order covering my site.
• Khata or e-Swathu record for my site.
• Project on RERA Karnataka, or a clear reason it is exempt.

Have a lawyer read the sanction, release and title papers before you pay more than a booking amount. This article is educational and not legal advice. For a dispute, consult a lawyer who practices before your state's RERA.