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Taxation

BBMP can't tax post offices, court says

Thursday, 02 September 2010 09:57 administrator
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The Hindu  02.09.2010

BBMP can't tax post offices, court says

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: The Karnataka High Court has held that post offices, as per the definition of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) Act 1976, is a civic amenity and that no tax or charge may be imposed on them by the State Government or its agencies.

Justice Ananda Byrareddy delivered this judgment recently when dealing with a petition by the Postmaster-General challenging the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike's decision (BBMP) to impose service charge on post offices in Bangalore.

The BBMP, the Department of Posts said, had issued a notice on April 12, 2005, asking it to pay 25 per cent of the property tax as service charge. The Department of Posts challenged the notification saying the service charge was nothing but tax and that all Central installations are exempt from paying it.

The BBMP argued saying that it was not levying tax but charging for services it rendered such as supplying water, providing roads and drains and removing debris and garbage.

But Justice Anand Byrareddy rejected the civic body's contention and said the concept of service charge runs foul of Article 256 (1) of the Constitution.

Last Updated on Thursday, 02 September 2010 10:01
 

Water tariff hike unnecessary

Tuesday, 31 August 2010 10:40 administrator
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The Pioneer  31.08.2010

Water tariff hike unnecessary

Geetika Thakur | Chandigarh

With local communities protesting against the hike in water tariff since many days, even the local residents are calling it an unnecessary step and said that they are not even getting water at fixed time.

Numerous city residents said that UT Administration is increasing water tariffs as a tool to escape from their own mistakes of letting plenty of water being wasted each day, due to leakage and water theft.

PGIMER auditor in fee section Kulwinder Kaur said: “All this has happened due to the non-seriousness of Municipal Corporation Chandigarh (MCC). They failed to collect the water dues from people across the city and landed up losing huge amount.”

She further added that now to cover up the faults, MCC is hiking the water tariff and harassing the common man to an unjustified limit.

Another resident Kamlesh Puri said: “Along with uncollected dues amounting crores of rupees, MCC even failed to stop the leakage of water in the city. Anyone can easily witness plenty of water getting wasted each day due to leakage but nothing concrete has been done till now to stop that.”

“The water tariff was already an issue of concern in the city but this hike will surely make it hard for everyone to breathe. With high costs of almost everything in the market, now the water will also join other expensive commodities,” alleged resident Tanya.

Furious upon the water theft across the city and the negligent behaviour of MCC towards the same, city-based teacher Deepti said, “The administration has made it an instrument to recover the huge arrears of water bills which has been lost due to their negligence in stopping the water theft. There are numerous industries and places where water is getting stolen and no step has been taken yet.”

“The result of irresponsible work of the civic body has landed up in penalising a common man, who is already under the burden of hike in numerous other commodities. Instead of hiking water tariffs, the civic body firstly must ensure no leakage and water theft and do not burden a common man unnecessarily,” added she.

The citizens shared that instead of hiking tariff, recovery of bills must be done in a time-bound manner. This will not only result in recovery of all the dues and help corporation to arrest the water thieves but will also relive denizens from unnecessary burden of paying extra rupees.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 31 August 2010 10:45
 

Property tax hike put on hold for now

Tuesday, 31 August 2010 10:00 administrator
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The New Indian Express  31.08.2010

Property tax hike put on hold for now

HYDERABAD: It looks like the dread of increased property taxes is over at least for now.

The proposed decision of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) to increase property tax by a whopping 30 percent from 2011-12 has been rejected by the GHMC Standing Committee.

The committee which met on Monday under the chairmanship of mayor Banda Karthika Reddy rejected tax hike proposals. They asked the GHMC commissioner Sameer Sharma to submit alternate proposals on improving tax collections.

The commissioner had submitted the proposal to the committee seeking their consent to increase property taxes to avail a loan of Rs 600 crore from nationalised banks and private institutions, in lieu of the amount being spent under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

Last Updated on Tuesday, 31 August 2010 10:02
 
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