The Hindu 23.10.2013
Shop on K.G. Road sealed for defaulting on tax
14 shopkeepers warned of action if they did not pay tax
The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials
sealed one shop in the Kids Kemp complex on K.G. Road and issued a
warning to 14 shopkeepers for not having paid property tax for five
years.
The members of the Standing Committee for
Taxation and Finance found that the shopkeepers in the complex had not
paid property tax and they owed the BBMP the tax and penalty totalling
Rs. 5 crore.
No result
Several
notices issued to the defaulters over the past few years had yielded no
result. When the officials asked the shopkeepers to pay property tax,
the latter told the former that they had been paying the tax amount to
the trust that manages the complex.
Massive dues
According
to panel chairperson M.S. Shivaprasad, the shopkeepers owe the BBMP
property tax totalling Rs. 2.47 crore. But including penalty they owe
the BBMP Rs. 5 crore. “The shopkeepers would send away the BBMP
officials who gave them notices. They tried to intimidate them today
also. But we decided to act tough and seal the shops.”
Mr.
Shivaprasad directed the zonal commissioner to ensure that the
electricity and water supply be stopped till the shopkeepers in the
complex clear all pending dues.
Mantri Square visit
Earlier,
when the committee members visited Mantri Square on Sampige Road, they
found that several shops had been set up in the open area in violation
of the BBMP’s building bylaws. Besides that more than 30 per cent of the
shops in the mall did not have trade licence. Officials were asked to
issue show-cause notice to shopkeepers concerned for erecting structures
in open spaces and review the tax paid by the mall. “Depending on the
response of the shopkeepers to the show-cause notice, we will decide on
the next course of action,” Mr. Shivaprasad said.
