Bengaluru: All illegal advertisements and hoardings across the city will be removed within two months, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike Commissioner assured the Karnataka High Court on Monday.
Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad gave the assurance during the hearing of petitions filed by some advertising agencies questioning the civic body’s action of levying a penalty and interest for non-payment of advertisement tax.
Justice Vineet Kothari, who is hearing the petitions, made it clear to the commissioner that the court would monitor the progress made in this regard fortnightly. The next hearing is on January 4, 2017.
Asking the commissioner to ensure that assistant revenue officers and revenue inspectors work meticulously, the court orally cautioned that officials, irrespective of their rank, may have to forgo their salaries in case of laxity in removal of illegal hoardings.
Meanwhile, the court asked the petitioners to deposit the advertisement tax demanded by the BBMP. The agencies have to deposit 50 per cent of penalty/interest in case they have any objection on computation of penalty and want to approach the appellate authorities against such levy.
The BBMP had told the court that as many as 5,507 notices were generated demanding annual charges, penalty and interest totalling Rs. 331,92,29,410. So far, 5,246 notices have been served upon 2,621 advertising agencies and other individuals while 3,608 orders have already been passed.
However, the amount recovered is Rs. 4,39,48,000, the commissioner told the court while pointing out that there are interim orders, both from civil courts and the High Court, against recovery of advertisement tax and related dues.
The court also asked the commissioner to provide details of cases before various courts so that it can direct those cases to be heard in one designated civil court.
