Business Line 30.11.2013

Property tax dues: Wipro may face legal action from Bangalore local body

Bangalore, Nov. 30: Wipro has been threatened with legal action by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for allegedly not paying Rs 16.47 crore as property tax.

Despite repeated tax notices, Wipro did not pay the tax notices and hence the BBMP authorities decided to slap a case against the company.

Rs 16.47-crore due

If Wipro does not pay up the dues, which as per BBMP officials amount to Rs 16.47 crore in taxes and other dues, it faces legal action, including seizure of movable property.

Wipro vehemently denied this. In a statement, a Wipro spokesperson in a statement said: “On November 27, officials and corporators of BBMP arrived at our Sarjapur campus without prior notice and resorted to high-handedness and arm twisting tactics for nearly seven hours.”

It was an illegal attempt to collect money against a notice for collection of property tax, which is not final and has been responded to by pointing out errors in data points and assumptions, the statement added.

This is the second time in the past 11 months that BBMP has resorted to intimidatory tactics to collect money against unsubstantiated notice of payment, Wipro officials said. These notices have been superseded with multiple fresh notices by BBMP itself and the latest one is yet to be adjudicated. Wipro is exploring all legal options at its disposal to seek redressal, the statement said.

The dispute has to do with its corporate headquarters at Doddakannelli village. According to the BBMP, Wipro owes these taxes calculated at Rs 20 per sq ft which was due for 2008-2012.

Matters first came to light during the January this year when Wipro was announcing its third quarter results. BBMP even hired drum beaters who resort to these measures in a bid to embarrass tax defaulters.