The standing committee of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) on Monday rejected the increase in taxes and compounding fees proposed by Municipal Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe in his annual civic budget.
This was the first Standing Committee meeting after Mr. Mundhe presented the ₹2,999.47-crore budget for 2017-18 on February 16. The budget was scheduled to be discussed on February 20, and the discussion was postponed to February 26 and 27.
On Monday, the Standing Committee discussed the income and its sources for the budget Mr. Mundhe had proposed. They questioned Mr. Mundhe on his right to propose a tax hike on budget day without presenting the proposal before the House and General Body.
“I have proposed the estimates for the income and its sources under the Section 95 of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act (MMCA), and as per Section 99 of MMCA, which describes the rights of the Standing Committee, they (members) can either approve or reject them,” NMMC Commissioner Mr Mundhe said.
Expressing disappointment over the percentage of the hike in property tax, water tax and compounding fees, the committee asked the commissioner to revise the estimates and present the budget again. Mr. Mundhe, however, refused to do so. “You may reject my proposal, but I won’t change my estimates,” he said.
“As per the norm, every tax hike in the budget has to be first approved by the Standing Committee and General Body, but it was not done this year. It looks like as if the commissioner does not consider the existence of the committee,” Standing Committee chairman Mr. Shivram Patil said.
“We have been in the House for the last 17 years and have witnessed 17 budget sessions. This is the first time such a budget was presented, in which the commissioner had not taken a prior approval of the tax proposal before presenting it,” Jaywant Sutar, NCP corporator and a Standing Committee member said.
Mr. Mundhe, meanwhile, maintained his stand, saying, “My actions and decisions are totally as per the MMCA provisions and nowhere have I gone against the law.”
The budget proposed a 3% increase in residential property tax and 5% hike in commercial property tax. “This year, salaries as per Minimum Wages Act have been approved for conservancy staff, which means the requirement to pay the salaries will increase. To fulfil these, taxes will have to be increased,” Mr. Mundhe said. He has also proposed telescopic rates for water tax as against a flat rate. “Telescopic rates would ensure that people are charged only as per what they use, so a poor person will pay less tax and rich would pay more tax. This will also help in avoiding the wastage of water,” Mr. Mundhe said to the committee. The committee also rejected the proposed compounding fee for people making minor deviations in building structure.
