Loading…
The Karnataka law that abolished the BBMP, replacing it with multiple city corporations under a Greater Bengaluru Authority chaired by the Chief Minister.
The Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024 is a Karnataka state law that restructured the municipal government of Bengaluru. It replaced the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Act, 2020 and abolished the single BBMP corporation, substituting a three-tier structure: an apex Greater Bengaluru Authority chaired by the Chief Minister, up to seven city corporations within the Greater Bengaluru Area, and ward committees below them. The Bill was passed by the Karnataka Legislative Assembly on 10 March 2025 and the Act was brought into force on 14 May 2025; the new system began operating from 2 September 2025, when five corporations — Central, North, South, East and West — replaced the BBMP. It is the most significant redesign of an Indian megacity's local government in recent years, and the leading exam example of the tension between administrative convenience and the decentralisation mandate of the 74th Constitutional Amendment.
Type: LawReplaces the BBMP Act, 2020, which had itself carved Bengaluru out of the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976
Three-tier structure — Greater Bengaluru Authority at the top, city corporations in the middle, ward committees at the base
Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) is chaired by the CHIEF MINISTER and includes state ministers, MPs, MLAs and MLCs from the region, the mayors of the corporations, the police commissioner and the heads of major parastatal agencies. It coordinates, executes and administers plans, schemes and projects and acts as the planning authority for infrastructure
Permits up to SEVEN city corporations in the Greater Bengaluru Area; five were created at the outset — Central, North, South, East and West
Eligibility thresholds for a corporation: population above 10 lakh, density above 5,000 persons per sq km, and preceding-year revenue above ₹300 crore
Each corporation may have up to 150 wards, with its own council, mayor and commissioner; each of the five was further divided into two zones, giving ten zones in all
A Chief Commissioner, appointed by the state government for three years, is the principal executive officer coordinating across the corporations
Ward committees are chaired by the elected councillor and have 14 members, and handle ward development plans and civic service delivery
Area Sabhas — the sub-ward citizen bodies present in the original draft — were dropped from the version that was passed, which is the most criticised omission
Frequency: Moderate for Prelims through the 74th Amendment, high for Mains GS-2 on urban local governance, and a standard question in Karnataka state examinations
Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024
The operative law: creates the Greater Bengaluru Area, the Greater Bengaluru Authority, up to seven city corporations and ward committees
BBMP Act, 2020
The law it replaced, which had governed Bengaluru as a single corporation separately from the rest of Karnataka
Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976
The general state law for municipal corporations, from which Bengaluru had earlier been carved out
74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992
Inserted Part IXA (Articles 243P-243ZG) and the Twelfth Schedule, constitutionalising urban local bodies — the yardstick against which the Act is judged
Article 243S
Requires Ward Committees in municipalities with a population of three lakh or more
Article 243W and the Twelfth Schedule
Allow states to devolve 18 listed functions, from urban planning to slum improvement, to municipalities
Article 243ZE
Requires a Metropolitan Planning Committee for every metropolitan area to prepare a draft development plan
Entry 5, State List
Local government is a state subject, which is why this restructuring was done by a state legislature
Bengaluru's civic problems — flooding, waste, road quality, water supply — have long been blamed on a mismatch of scale: one corporation, a population in the crores, a few hundred councillors, and a dozen parastatal agencies for water, transport, power and development that reported to the state rather than to the city. The Act answers the scale problem by splitting the corporation, but answers the coordination problem by placing a Chief-Minister-led authority above the pieces, and it is that second move that makes it a set-piece case for Mains. The 74th Amendment's promise was that cities would be governed by elected city governments with their own functions, funds and functionaries; a structure in which the apex coordinating body is chaired by the head of the state government, tax rates are fixed by the state, and legislators sit in the administrative chain runs the other way. Whether smaller corporations end up more accountable to residents or simply weaker relative to the state is the question the Act will be judged on, and it is the same question raised wherever metropolitan authorities have been layered over municipal bodies in India.
Karnataka state law; replaced the BBMP Act, 2020 and abolished the BBMP
Passed by the Assembly 10 March 2025; in force 14 May 2025; new corporations operational from 2 September 2025
Three tiers: Greater Bengaluru Authority → city corporations → ward committees
GBA chaired by the Chief Minister; includes ministers, MPs, MLAs, MLCs, mayors, police commissioner and agency heads
Up to seven corporations permitted; five created — Central, North, South, East, West; ten zones in all
Corporation thresholds: 10 lakh population, 5,000 per sq km density, ₹300 crore prior-year revenue; up to 150 wards each
Chief Commissioner appointed by the state for three years; ward committees of 14 members under the councillor
Area Sabhas dropped; main criticism is centralisation against the spirit of the 74th Amendment (Part IXA, Twelfth Schedule)
It replaced the BBMP Act, 2020 and abolished the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, substituting a three-tier structure of a Greater Bengaluru Authority, multiple city corporations and ward committees.
Five — Central, North, South, East and West — which began functioning from 2 September 2025. The Act permits up to seven city corporations within the Greater Bengaluru Area.
The Chief Minister of Karnataka. The Authority also includes state ministers, MPs, MLAs and MLCs from the region, the mayors of the corporations, the police commissioner and the heads of major civic agencies.
Because the apex body is headed by the Chief Minister rather than an elected city leader, property tax rates are set by the state government, corporations need state approval for many decisions, legislators have been given administrative coordination roles, and Area Sabhas were dropped — all of which cut against the devolution of functions, funds and functionaries that the 74th Amendment envisaged.
A population above 10 lakh, a density above 5,000 persons per square kilometre, and revenue in the preceding year above ₹300 crore. Each corporation may have up to 150 wards.