Welcome to Bangalore Metropolitan
Task Force
The Bangalore
Metropolitan Task Force was noble experiment of the Government of
Karnataka in the year 1996, vide Government Order no. UDD 247 MNU
95, BANGALORE, Date 19 March 1996, with the duties of,
1. Better
protection of property belonging to the government, BBMP, BDA, BWSSB,
Karnataka Slum Clearance Board, City Municipal Council, Town
Municipal Council and tanks, lakes and tank-beds handed over for
maintenance to the Forest Department with in Bangalore Urban and
Rural District by the government, any other property specified by
government from time to time through notifications.
2. The
detection of commission or any design to commit any such offence
relating to the unauthorized occupation of land belonging to the
government, to investigate and prosecute such offences.
3. Identify
the employees and officers of the organization included in the
jurisdiction of BMTF who collude with the public in making them
commit the offences and to take action against the offences and
irregularities under specified statutes.
The Bangalore
Metropolitan Task Force had a nuclear component of the police
officers headed by the officer with a rank of
Additional Director General of Police and supported by Town Planners and Revenue officials. The Government of Karnataka made all efforts in her
endeavor to
make this experiment success by providing powers under innumerable
statutes and extending the scope time to time. Today Bangalore
Metropolitan Task Force has got the police power to investigate the
cases under the following statutes
-
Karnataka
Municipal Corporation Act-1984,
-
The Karnataka
Municipalities Act-1964,
-
The Bangalore
Metropolitan Region Development Authority Act-1985,
-
The Karnataka
Slum Areas (Improvement & Clearance) Act-1973,
-
The Bangalore
Water Supply & Sewage ACT-1964,
-
The Karnataka
Land Revenue Act-1964,
-
The Karnataka
Land Reforms Act-1961,
-
The Inam
Abolition Act,
-
The Indian Penal
Code,
-
The Karnataka
Police Act-1963
In the initial
years Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force worked with limited aim and
progressed to achieve both tangible and intangible results and
focused in identification of the problems besides spreading the
message of the Government of Karnataka to the people at large. It
was guarded in launching the prosecution against the violators as
its strategy was limited to carry forward a message.
In the year 2011 a
review of the strategy was made and an aggressive approach was
adopted, where the major emphasis was made to identify the violators
of the law and their prosecution .The need of such paradigm shift in
the strategy was necessary in view of the limited impact of earlier
tactics. The new approach to the problem has laid significant
improvement and the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force has widened
the amplitude of the registration of the cases both in terms of
nature and numbers. So far 140 cases have been registered.
Success does not
come without the efforts and blemishing to the success by vested interest
is not uncommon. There had been demands to examine the scope of the
powers of Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force. Arson incident of
Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force police establishment is one such
dastardly act presumably by those vested interests.
Bangalore
Metropolitan Task Force with the team of handpicked officers and men
whose number can be counted on fingers has traveled in its journey
undeterred by the postures dissuading the force from performing its
task. The efforts have not borne fruit to the desired extent yet,
but the steps put forward with the support of the Government of
Karnataka and people of Bangalore will enable Bangalore Metropolitan
Task Force to register a niche among the enforcement bodies of the
Government of Karnataka progress to greater heights. |