July 29: The Chennai corporation is planning to take legal action against property owners who rent out the walls of their buildings for commercial hoardings, mayor M. Subramanian said on Thursday. The mayor said that several building owners were violating the hoarding ban and were evolving new strategies by renting out wall space for advertisements. The mayor said that such walls would be defaced and the building owners penalized.

Speaking during the corporation council meeting convened at the Ripon Buildings here on Thursday, the mayor said that the civic body was concerned about the mushrooming illegal hoardings. Mr Subramanian also said that initiatives would be taken to prevent usury among Corporation employees. The civic body will help its employees avail loans through the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) at four per cent interest.

Earlier, when councillor Mr M. Abdul Majid of ward 106 enquired about the delay in issuing the building plans despite computerisation, the mayor replied that certain initiatives were being taken to upgrade the existing system and exuded confidence that there would be no delays in future. Replying to a query from councillor Jayakala Prabhakar of ward 123 about media reports regarding an increase in property tax, the mayor ruled out any the possibility of increasing the tax.

Mr Subramanian also said that steps were being taken to issue 155 laptops with printers to the councillors through ELCOT to help the public avail free birth and death certificates from division offices. “The corporation will purchase the laptops and printers at a cost of Rs 81 lakh,” Mr Subramanian added.