The Hindu 06.05.2013
Unauthorised buildings: consumer body seeks coloured property tax books
Coimbatore Consumer Cause has urged the Coimbatore
Corporation to go in for coloured property tax assessment books to
identify buildings that were unauthorised.
In a
letter to Commissioner G. Latha, the organisation’s Secretary, K.
Kathirmathiyon, has said that most people were unaware that the
Corporation collected tax and provided water to the residents of those
buildings that were constructed without approval. Even if the buildings
were to be in complete violation of the rules, the Corporation would
treat it as buildings that were 100 per cent deviant, levy a meagre
penalty, assess the building and thereafter collect property tax.
After
the levy of property tax, most residents tend to believe that the
buildings were approved and inferred that the grant of water connection
had granted the “approved” status.
There was no easy
way to ascertain if the buildings were approved or not because there
would be no mention in the property tax assessment books. Even those
with a fair idea of the workings of the Corporation and the rules on
building plan approval found it difficult to fathom the actual status of
the buildings.
The problem arose during second
sales. In the absence of clear mention in the property tax assessment
books, banks were also financing the buyers of such buildings based on
the registered documents and property tax assessment books.
To
overcome the problem, Mr. Kathirmathiyon suggests that the Corporation
could go in for coloured books to differentiate the approved buildings
from the unauthorised ones. It could issue white books for buildings
that were cent per cent in conformity with the rules, yellow books for
buildings with minor deviations and red books for buildings that were
constructed without approval or had major deviations.
By
doing so, the Corporation would help people identify unauthorised
buildings and prevent their buying or transacting such property.