The Times of India 22.12.2009
Salt Lake civic projects suffer due to tax
KOLKATA: Salt Lake municipality is now going down on its knees for revenue collection. Along with tax bills, the municipality will now send "appeals" to its residents to pay up taxes, referring to an interim high court order. And the residents' association has decided to move court against the "illegal appeal."
Ironically, both the CPM and the Trinamool Congress are against residents coughing up taxes pending since 2007 just because the municipality has "appealed" without waiting for the final high court verdict. Faced with opposition from all quarters, Bidhannagar Municipality (as the Salt Lake civic body is called) is now in a fix. Before going to polls in May 2010, it has a whole lot of development projects pending. As a senior CPM leader in Salt Lake confessed, "A drubbing seems to be staring the CPM in the face because we would be handing a slogan to the Opposition (which has just won the Belgachchia East Assembly seat) on a platter. The slogan is: no work, no vote." Development work for Salt Lake has taken a back seat over the last two years.
The saga of helplessness began in May 2007 when the Supreme Court upheld Salt Lake Welfare Association's (residents' body) plea that the property assessment procedure in the township was an infringement upon an individual's fundamental rights. The residents had long been complaining of arbitrary valuation, citing instances of tax rates varying from Rs 600 to Rs 10,000 for houses covering same area. Section 10 of the West Bengal Valuation Board Act, 1978 had usurped the citizen's right to raise objections.
The state government tried to overcome the stumbling block by amending Section 96 of municipal act, empowering civic bodies to impose taxes on their own. The welfare association challenged the amendment and the court gave an interim order on September 30, 2008 (cited by Bidhannagar municipality in its "appeal" to residents) that "the petitioners shall pay property tax to be calculated at the new rate based on an old valuation for the time being ...".
And now, the welfare association will move court against this "illegal appeal" and citation of the interim order. Association secretary Kumar Shankar Sadhu told TOI on Monday, "There was a subsequent order on 27 November 2008, which has been suppressed by the municipality." Sadhu has drafted a letter for the municipal chairman Biswajiban Majumdar. It read: "By mentioning the interim order you have suppressed the subsequent high court order on 27.11.08 which has asked you not to collect taxes from those who have filed review petitions questioning the enhanced tax rate. Thus, your present tax bill is a violation of the said order."
Even as the chairman wasn't available for comment, vice-chairman Ila Nandi is aware of the high court order passed on 27.11.08. She told TOI, "This order asked the central valuation board (CVB) to rectify the tax structure formulated by the municipality. But the CVB can't do so after the Supreme Court order. Therefore, we had to calculate the taxes as per the interim order which calls for 30 % enhancement."
Nandi admitted that the current bills were enhanced and "we can do nothing if residents refuse to pay up." Soumen Chakraborty, CPM local committee secretary, also understands the residents' predicament. "They should wait for the final verdict before paying taxes. The revised tax structure after the verdict will be much less. " Debashis Jana, Opposition leader in the municipality, echoed, "This is not the time to pay the taxes."
