The Hindu 02.11.2009
Demand for Property Tax grievances redressal camps
Special Correspondent
People can approach the tax tribunal with their grievances: Corporation Commissioner
No building should be constructed without an approved plan
COIMBATORE: Councillors of the Coimbatore Corporation want the civic body to solve problems that the public face in having their buildings assessed for Property Tax, especially after the revision of the tax.
Excess Taxation
Leader of the Opposition and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) member V.N. Udayakumar alleged excess taxation and called upon Corporation Commissioner Anshul Mishra to organise special grievances redress camps in the four zone offices.
“The tax had been raised for the residential category by 20 per cent. So, a person who had been paying Rs. 2,000 earlier should pay only Rs.2,400 now. But, there are complaints of Corporation staff collecting even Rs.3,000,” he said.
The Commissioner said special camps were already being held in the zone offices in connection with the Local Bodies’ Day celebrations to be held on November 1. Orders to provide solutions to grievances would be issued at a meeting that day, he said. Besides, people could approach the tax tribunal with their grievances.
Tax-specific meetings
The Commissioner, however, said tax-specific meetings could also be organised. Mr. Udayakumar suggested that enough publicity on the grievances meeting be given in the media well in advance. As for excess tax, the Commissioner said action could be taken on specific complaints if they were brought to his notice.
The councillors requested the Commissioner to hold back the implementation of the new Property Tax assessment system that made submission of building plan approval details mandatory.
The Corporation introduced this scheme as buildings were being constructed without an approved plan and without paying the charges required to be paid at this stage.
But, after these structures were constructed without an approved plan, their owners approached the Corporation for the assessment of Property Tax.
“This is why we are now insisting that the plan approval details also must be furnished while applying for tax assessment. If we make just the assessment, there are questions during auditing on the loss of revenue during the plan approval stage,” the Commissioner explained.
Asked what the Corporation’s rules stated, the Commissioner said that actually no building should be constructed without an approved plan. But, some structures such as houses came up despite this rule because of humanitarian consideration.
Pointing out that there were some grey areas and that rules should be tightened, he said the new scheme was aimed at curbing at least from now the practice of constructing buildings without obtaining approval for the plan.
Mr. Udayakumar, other members from the DMK and the councillors from various other parties then called for an all-party meeting on this issue. When more questions arose over this scheme, the Commissioner said all these could be raised at the all-party meeting.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) councillor said the public welcomed the Corporation’s recent action against buildings that did not have the mandatory space for parking vehicles. But, this action should be sustained, he said.
The Corporation should identify all the buildings in the city that did not have parking space and take action against these. Every public building in the city should have parking space and the Corporation must ensure this, he said.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam councillor P. Rajkumar said finding space for parking in the city was proving to be a torture.
There was chaos on the roads in areas where multi-storeyed buildings did not have parking space. The councillor said the Corporation should soon implement the scheme for multi-tier parking lots in busy commercial centres in the city.
