KARNATAKA BUILDINGS SPECIFICATIONS (KBS)

FOREWORD
I. General Rules
1.1. Karnataka Buildings Specifications approved in circular no. PWD 315 CRM 96 (Part) dated
18.8.2002 of the Secretary to Government, Public Works Department with effect from 1.11.2002
are intended for adoption by the Public Works Department and by all construction departments
including Government undertakings throughout the State of Karnataka. KBS prepared in 2001
has been updated and edited in 2008, incorporating changes made necessary on account of the
revision of National Building Code in 2005 and few related BI Standards.
1.2. The deciding authority as to the meaning, interpretations and implications of various
provisions of KBS shall be the Secretary to Government, Public Works Department. His decision
in writing shall be final and binding on all concerned. In discharging the duties, the Secretary
shall be assisted if necessary, by a specially constituted committee consisting of experienced
engineers in the field of construction, project and quality management.
2. Brief history
2.1. When the first book on specifications was published by the Chief Engineer, Mysore, in the
year 1956, even then also, it was felt that the attempt has been modest and the hand book is
prepared to be revised periodically with necessary deletions and additions keeping pace with the
advancement in Engineering.
2.2. The Government of Karnataka in the Public Works Department took a decision to prepare the
specifications and rate analysis for buildings, roads and bridges and constituted a committee,
named as Committee for Compilation of Specifications for Buildings, Roads and Bridges in
G.O.No.PWD 315 CRM 99 dated 5-8-1999 with the following members.
1. Sri T.G.Radhakrishna, Chairman
(Retired chief engineer, Public Works Department, Govt. of Karnataka)
2. Sri. Kiran Shankar,
Chief Architect, P.W.D. Bangalore
3. Sri. D.V. Satyanarayana, Superintending engineer, B'lore Circle
4. Sri. Y. Hanumanthaiah, Superintending engineer, Buildings Circle, B'lore
5. Sri. P. Subramaniam, Assistant engineer, Office of the superintending engineer, P.W.D.
Bangalore Circle.
6. Sri. N.L. Prabhakar, Asst. engineer, High Court sub-division, Bangalore.
7. Sri. B.R. Narasimha Murthy, Assistant engineer, Office of the Executive Engineer, P.W.D.
Division, Kolar.
8. Sri. Gopalakrishna, Assistant engineer, Office of the Chief engineer, National Highways,
Bangalore.
9. Sri. S. Surendra, Assistant engineer, Design Section, Office of the Chief engineer, C & B
(South), Bangalore, Member convenor.
2.3. The Committee submitted the specifications for buildings, roads and bridges and also the
standard rate analysis for buildings, roads and bridges during July 2001.
2.4. Government accorded approval to the following in Government circular No. PWD 315 CRM
96 (Part) dated 18.8.2002 with effect from 1.11.2002,
1. Karnataka Buildings specification (KBS)
2. Karnataka Roads & Bridges specification (KRBS)
3. Karnataka Standard Rate analysis for Buildings (KSRB)
4. Karnataka Standard Rate analysis for Roads & Buildings (KSRRB)
3. EXPLANATORY NOTE FOR KBS.
3.1. Specification means a detailed, exact statement of particulars, especially a statement
prescribing materials, dimensions, and quality of work for some thing to be built / constructed,
erected / installed or manufactured. Nomenclature of a work is a term used to mean a system of
names used to denote a work.
3.2. While preparing the Standard Specifications, care was exercised to see that construction
practices prevailing in different parts of our state were incorporated. Corresponding documents
being followed by Public Works Departments of other states, construction organizations in the
country etc were closely examined for identifying construction practices which could be
advantageously adopted. The National Building Code, Indian Standards and the Codes of
Practices by Bureau of Indian Standards were extensively referred while drafting the
specifications in consonance with those documents.
3.3. It is however pointed out that a number of Bureau of Indian Standards, codes, specifications,
and IRC codes have undergone revision and further revisions are also likely, in view of the
ongoing efforts for improvisation. Therefore engineers are advised to refer the latest editions of
standards and codes of construction practices whenever they are referred to.
3.4. Consequent to the decision taken during the meeting held on 5 October 2007 by the Principal
Secretary to Government, Public Works Department and attended by the Secretary to
Government PWD, Senior officers of the Government in Finance and Legal Department, Chief
Engineers and Superintending Engineers of PWD, the work of updating and editing the KBS on
the basis of the National Building Code 2005, BI Standards were taken up and completed in May
2008. Efforts have been made to make KBS easy to understand and follow, particularly by the
engineers at the field level. A number of annexures have been added, which are extracts from the
BI standards, NBC and code of practices, so that the basics of civil engineering construction are
readily available.
4. Acknowledgement
KBS in its present form is entirely on account of the tremendous initiative of the following officers;
Sri Sudhir Krishna I. A.S., Principal Secretary to Government, who conducted meetings with all
the key officers, impressing on them the necessity of having an updated version at the earliest.
Sri T.Sukumar, Secretary to Government, Public Works Department, actively participated in
several discussion forums with the engineering officers of the department and gave valuable
technical inputs, which has been incorporated in this book.
Smt R. Manjula, Special Officer to Government in the Public Works Department, evinced keen
interest in the updating work and at the same time saw to it that all the facilities required are
extended in time.
Sri N. Lakshmana Rao Peshve, Chief engineer (C&B) and his predecessor, Sri K.Jaiprakash,
superintending engineers of circles and all their engineer officers actively participated, by
deputing their staff whenever required.
Sri M. Nagaraj, Executive Engineer and President, KEA, as always, was with the committee
encouraging and taking keen interest in the updating activity.
Sri K.G.Pranesh Technical Assistant in Central Office, Sri Rizvan Baig, Assistant Executive
Engineer Sri Saifuddin, Assistant Engineer of the department in assisting this work has been very
commendable.
The sincere and dedicated work done by Sri B.S.Govindaraj and Smt H.S. Veena, Computer
Typists deputed from central office, in painstakingly and meticulously preparing the soft copy has
been extraordinary.
5. The KBS approved by Government and brought in to practice with effect from 1-11-2002 has
been updated and edited taking care to ensure its accuracy. The KBS in the present form which
fulfills a long felt need of the department, may please be approved, printed and published for the
benefit of the engineers of the department in particular and all others involved in execution of
public works

(B.L.Narayan) (T.G.Radhakrishna)
Superintending Engineer (Retired) Chief Engineer (Retired)

Bangalore
May 2008