Urban News

The petition filed by Anjana Kshetry and Sanjeev Gautam of Hill Road Cooperative Housing Society states that in August 2008 the assistant assessor and collector of the municipal corporation had served a notice to the secretary asking for details of the flats after which the secretary furnished the details. On March 17, 2009, the secretary was “shocked and surprised” to receive a special notice informing the society that the rateable value has been increased to Rs 16,49,165.

The secretary met the ward officer and requested for a review of the increase. The assessor directed the secretary to lodge a complaint within 15 days of receipt of the notice. A complaint was lodged but after some delay. The petition states that the society was under the impression that they would get a hearing since the complaint had been lodged.

On July 8 it received a letter informing that the complaint was time-barred since it was not filed within 15 days. The assessor also refused to condone the delay.

The petition further states that the demand for such a huge property tax amounts to confiscation of the entire rent, and more, received by the members of the society. They also state that the actual rent cannot be made the basis of fixation of the tax.

The petitioners had urged the court to quash the notice and direct the corporation to give them a hearing. The petitioners’ lawyer Nilima Sanglikar argued that even the entire rent collected by the members won’t be enough to match the tax demand.

Division bench of Justice J N Patel and Justice A P Bhangale had then set aside the July 8 letter and held that the petitioners are entitled to a hearing before the assessing officer. The court then directed the petitioners to appear before the assessing officer within two weeks and directed the assessing officer to pass an order in accordance with law within 4 weeks.

The court also granted the petitioners the liberty to move court if they are not satisfied with the order.

Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation officials said a technical glitch caused the problem. Sanjay Desai, chief executive engineer of NMMC’s water supply department, said there was no political pressure and the delay was due to software problems. “We recently installed water meters in the CIDCO buildings that were earlier being supplied water and charged directly. The water rates were revised three days before the election code of conduct that came into effect on February 27. Because of this we could not update our software and could not generate the bills,” said Desai. Ironically, the other 66,000 consumers were sent bills with the revised rates. The NMMC standing committee had slashed water rates for domestic users, just two months before the elections, from Rs 4.75 per 1000 litres upto a total monthly consumption of 25,000 liters to just Rs .50 for water consumption upto 30,000 litres per month. The charges for commercial users remain the same at Rs 30 per 1000 litre till consumption of 25,000 litres.

The area’s daily demand of 315 million litres of water is met by civic-owned Morbe Dam and CIDCO-owned Hetavne Dam and MIDC’s Barvi Dam. The annual revenue generated from water bills is Rs 54 crore.