BENGALURU: Hoping to be spared the burden of penalties and other consequences of having defaulted on Property tax payment, lakhs of property owners within the limits of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) are pinning their hopes on a crucial cabinet meeting scheduled Thursday evening.
The state cabinet is expected to deliberate on bringing an amendment to the BBMP Act-2020 in the forthcoming session of the legislature to provide relief to Property tax defaulters by rolling out a one-time settlement.
Pointing at the impasse that lakhs of property holders find themselves in by defaulting in tax payments, several MLAs and MLCs from Bengaluru have demanded that the issue be resolved atthe earliest. A high-level meeting of Bengaluru’s legislators and ministers, convened by deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar a fortnight ago in Vikasa Soudha, also resolved to address the issue as early as possible.
Acknowledging the confusion and mounting arrears on the citizens, Shivakumar said, “The penalty element was increased when the tax rules were revised in 2020.
But nobody had thought about the problem. I agree that the citizens can’t pay such huge arrears. Hence, we have decided to amend the act and provide relaxation to property owners.”
Rajajinagar MLA and former minister S Suresh kumar had demanded the state government roll out a one-time settlement of taxes to address the confusion.
In the meantime, severalMLAs slammed the BBMP’s move to slap notices on defaulters and the decision to seize their properties. Subsequently, the BBMP chose to go after the property owners who have accumulated arrears of more than Rs 10 lakh.
A senior urban development department (UDD) officer confirmed to TOI that a proposal has been sent to the state cabinet, seeking clarity on the issue. “Shivakumar expressed his intention to amend the rules. Accordingly, we prepared a proposal and forwarded it to the cabinet for final approval ahead of the state legislature session next week,” the official said.
Sources in the UDD revealed that the department has recommended a waiver of penalty charges and collect only the principal and interest from defaulting property owners across the city.
