The Hindu 15.06.2010
BBMP saddled with dud property tax cheques
Staff Reporter
| Cheques of even top builders and developers have bounced |
Bangalore: The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is grappling with a new headache in the form of dishonoured cheques issued by citizens towards their property tax payment.
Not just ordinary people but even some of those presented by top builders and developers. Overall, an average of 30 cheques are dishonoured by the banks every day.
The property tax payments are made through either cheques or demand drafts. According to the Chief Accounts Officer (CAO), M. Ashok Kumar, the revenue officials had trouble pursuing those who made property tax payments through these bounced cheques.
“Many of those who have made these payments are not from the city, though they own property here. We have had trouble tracking them down,” he said.
A dishonoured cheque is a criminal offence. The civic authority can take serious note of this and file a criminal case under the Negotiable Instruments Act.
However, the BBMP has not initiated any action against those whose cheques have bounced.
BBMP sources said that payments made by a significant number of big builders and developers too have bounced. “Their property tax payment runs into lakhs, sometimes even crores. However, the BBMP has not taken any action against them,” the sources added.
Mayor S.K. Nataraj met senior revenue officials from all the eight zones in the city on Monday. Taking serious note of the increasing number of bounced cheques received by the civic authority, he directed the officials to take action against those who issued them. “I have also instructed them to file criminal cases against such persons. There is no other option,” he told The Hindu.
The BBMP has been able to collect Rs. 613 crore in the form of property tax so far. The first tax period opened on April 1 and the civic authority offered a five per cent rebate to those who made their property tax payment by May 30. The BBMP has set a target of collecting Rs. 1,100 crore as property tax for 2010-11. June 30 is the last day to make the first instalment tax payments without penalty. From July 1, penalty of two per cent will be levied.
Meanwhile, the Mayor criticised the officials for not furnishing the details that he had asked for during the meeting. “I had sent across a list of questions to the CAO a week ago. The CAO should have sent it across to the various zonal officials. However, the officials came to the meeting unprepared and were unable to furnish the required details,” he added.
He said that he had asked for details about the total value of the dishonoured/ bounced cheques, property tax collection so far, during 2008-09 and 2009-10, number of vacant sites, houses, commercial buildings and apartments in each zone, number of khata registrations and transfer applications, number of BBMP property that have been leased, number of property assessed under high value property slab and amount collected from these property, among others.
“I have given them 12 days' time to get back to me with all the details,” he said.
