Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy has expressed his disagreement with the recent notices sent to property owners by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) requesting payment based on the revised property tax rates from the preceding year, 2016-17. In a letter to Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, Mr. Reddy urged the withdrawal of the property tax revision.
The BBMP has intensified its revenue division efforts and commenced issuing notices to property owners who have been underpaying property tax for a period of seven years.
Mr. Reddy termed the BBMP’s property tax revision as unscientific. “I have received numerous complaints about the BBMP serving notices by revising property tax and seeking the outstanding unpaid amount for the past seven years. This is being carried out without adhering to any guidelines. The property tax revision is unscientific and there is no provision in the Karnataka Municipal Corporation (KMC) Act, 1976, or the BBMP Act, 2020,” Mr. Reddy stated in the letter.
Mr. Reddy requested Mr. Shivakumar, who is also Bengaluru Development Minister, to convene a meeting with the officers concerned, discuss the matter, and establish appropriate guidelines. He said that the notices were imposing an unnecessary burden on property owners.
Mr. Reddy told The Hindu, “I have gotten several complaints that the notices are causing unnecessary burden to property owners. Hence I wrote the letter seeking measures where people will not face any burden by the rule.”
