BENGALURU: The govt on Monday tabled two significant bills in the legislative assembly which are aimed at boosting its coffers and preventing water theft. The Karnataka Municipalities and Certain Other Law (Amendment) Bill, 2024, and the Karnataka Irrigation (Amendment) Bill aim to hold officials accountable for lapses in property tax collection and curb water theft from irrigation canals.
The municipalities Bill, tabled by urban development minister BS Suresh (Byrathi), seeks to fine officials up to Rs 50,000 and imprison them for 15 days if they fail to collect property tax dues.
“Any officer or employee of the municipality who fails to collect property tax dues under assessment of property tax or any financial causes to the municipality, shall be fined up to Rs 50,000 in each case and may also be punished with simple imprisonment for 15 days,” the Bill states.
The Bill also empowers municipalities to levy property tax on unauthorised buildings with double the tax payable in the first year. However, buildings illegally erected on govt land or land controlled by local bodies or govt organisations are exempt from property tax.
Penal provisions against officials for issuing property identification numbers or khata for unlawfully formed plots and buildings have also been introduced. The Bill allows municipalities to levy and collect property tax from buildings constructed in violation of building bylaws or in unauthorised layouts.
Such properties will be levied “double the tax payable for the first year and only the property tax shall be levied for the subsequent years”, the Bill states. However, this collection of property tax “does not confer any right to regularise violation made, or title, ownership or legal status to such building or vacant land.”
The second Bill, tabled by water resources minister DK Shivakumar, seeks to increase the penalty for siphoning off water to Rs 2 lakh from Rs 1,000 and imprisonment term to two years from one year. It defines violations such as piercing or cutting canals or pipes, inserting a pipe by piercing or cutting a canal, or instaling a machine or any other equipment in the canal causing damage to the stability or safety of the canal.
Users of irrigation water who intend to drill or dig wells or create storage ponds within 500m of a canal must seek govt permission. Existing groundwater users within this proximity to lift irrigation systems or canals have six months to register their operations under the new guidelines.
