The Hindu        10.06.2013

Irregularities found in property tax assessment

The Erode Corporation has unearthed large-scale
irregularities in the property tax assessment carried out in a few parts
of the town and launched a detailed probe. It has also suspended four
bill collectors for the alleged irregularities.

The
civic body found violation of norms in the assessment carried out for
more than 200 new properties that came up in Surampatty and Kasipalayam
areas during the annual auditing.

It was said that
the bill collectors in these areas fixed a tax for the properties
arbitrarily without consulting the senior officials and taking their
approval for the assessment. Sources alleged that low amount of tax was
fixed for a number of new properties that came up in the last few
months. A high amount of tax was imposed for some of the properties.

The
bill collectors had also issued assessment orders to the owners of the
new buildings without getting the approval and signature from the
assistant commissioners of the respective zones.

In
the preliminary inquiry carried out by the civic body, officials
confirmed the irregularities committed by the bill collectors and
submitted a detailed report to Corporation Commissioner M.
Vijayalakshmi. Based on the report, the civic body placed four bill
collectors – Gurusamy, Subramani, Krishnan and Ramasamy – under
suspension. “We have also initiated a departmental inquiry,” a senior
official here said.

Teams comprising senior officials
were also sent to more than 200 properties and a fresh assessment was
carried out. The civic body had also initiated steps to re-assess the
new buildings that came in Erode town limits in the recent years.