The Indian Express            06.11.2013

UT Admn, MC make exception for HC, wave off Rs 1.85-lakh surcharge

The UT Administration and the Municipal Corporation have decided to waive off Rs 1.85 lakh worth surcharges on electricity and water bills of the Punjab and Haryana HiC and the houses of eight judges in various sectors. These surcharges were imposed due to non-payment of bills between September 15, 2012 to November 15, 2012. Making an exception, a decision has recently been taken for waiver of surcharge for both the bills.

While, both the bills were paid off later, the surcharges were not cleared. While surcharge on electricity bill of the high court building was Rs 1.59 lakh, that on the water bills of the high court building and the judges houses was Rs 25, 350. Like for other government departments, the funds for the high court are allocated in the annual budget of the Administration that is approved by the Centre. The electricity and water bills of the high court building as well as the judges houses is paid through the funds that are allocated.

In case of individuals as well as other government departments, a surcharge of 10 per cent is imposed in case of water bill and 2 per cent per month in case of electricity bills. Even when the pending bills are cleared, the defaulters are required to pay the surcharge. Non-payment can even lead to disconnection of supply. Among the list of defaulters of the water bills are several government departments that have not paid the bills and the amounts are kept pending. Even in these cases, the surcharge is generally not waived off.

Apart from the high court building, the surcharge was imposed on eight residences including seven in Sector 4 and one in Sector 3. Surcharge had been imposed on 27 water bills that were not cleared.

Citing reasons that the budgetary allocation was held up, the high court defaulted on the electricity and water bills of the court building and the judges houses. Court officer Rajinder Thakur said, "The committee of judges directed the officials that the surcharge should be waived off as it was the fault of the Administration that funds did not reach the high court on time. The bills were also cleared. Apart from bills of these months, there has never been a delay in payment of bills."

The Administration took the decision for waiving off the electricity bill of the HC building. For the water bills of the HC building and the judges houses, the agenda was taken up in the meeting of the general house of the Municipal Corporation. Amidst ruckus in the House, the agenda for waiving off the bill was approved.

UT finance secretary VK Singh said, "Usually, surcharges on bills are not waived off. In this case, the members of the judiciary were of the opinion that it is not their fault as the Administration should have released the money on time and the bills would have been cleared. So the surcharge was waived off."

Chief Engineer, Municipal Corporation, SS Bida said that the officials were called for a meeting and it was directed that the surcharge be waived off.

The Indian Express            06.11.2013

Moderate rush on last day, MC likely to start refund from Thursday

After two extensions from Ludhiana Municipal Corporation and Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA) the process of regularising plots and colonies ended on Tuesday.

Now till November 15, people can get their plots and colonies regularised but only after paying a 20 per cent fine for plot owners and 50 per cent for colonisers. Additional commissioner Isha Kalia said that there has been no notification from the government on further extension of date to get plots and colonies regularised. Earlier, the last date was kept at October 7 by state government which was extended to October 25 and then November 5.

As per collections on Tuesday, MC earned Rs 1.13 crore on last day and its total collection was Rs 32.65 crore approximately since August 27, when the process of regularisation started. The collections of GLADA stood over Rs 100 crore approximately, according to Rakesh Popli, estate officer, GLADA. Till October 7, which was the first deadline set by state government, MC had collected Rs 23 crore while GLADA collected Rs 36 crore approximately. While heavy rush was witnessed till late on October 7, on Tuesday there was moderate rush of people.

Meanwhile, the state also exempted plots and colonies established before 1995 from fee on October 7 thus people who paid fee before October 7 will get refunds from MC/ GLADA. "We will start the refund procedure most probably from Thursday. Residents can visit our zonal offices to get the refunds," said Isha Kalia, additional commissioner adding that state government has given a go ahead to refund fee.

Meanwhile, GLADA has still not decided on any policy to refund fee taken for plots or colonies before 1995.

GLADA clears 30,000 applications

While GLADA till now has cleared more than 30,000 applications and earned Rs 100 crore approximately, Ludhiana MC's total collection is around Rs 32 crore out of which Rs 1.13 crore came on Tuesday. On Tuesday, maximum Rs 39.50 lakh came from Zone B with 328 applications followed by Rs 33.40 lakh from Zone C with 218 applications. Rs 31.66 lakh were collected from Zone D with 165 applications and least were from Zone A with 39 applications and collection was Rs 8.53 lakh.