The conversion of several residential buildings into business establishments in the city figured in the Mysore City Corporation (MCC) meeting held here on Monday.
Vasu, MLA, who broached the subject, alleged that many houses had been converted into commercial centres, resulting in considerable loss to the MCC.
He said that for a residential property, the MCC collects an amount of Rs. 10,000 as tax, while for a commercial establishment it collects an amount of Rs. 2 lakh. Many who have submitted applications for residential houses have built shops in place and evaded paying tax.
He said that the Corporation collected double the residential tax, i.e. Rs. 20,000, from those found to have converted residential houses into commercial centres.
However, the Corporation stood to lose an income of Rs. 1.8 lakh from each of these centres by collecting such a paltry sum. Vasu further alleged that in many cases trade licences had been given to owners of such establishments.
Huge fine
Nandish Preetham, councillor, said that the corporation must collect a sum of Rs. 2 lakh along with a fine of Rs. 50,000 from those indulging in such practices. Mayor R. Lingappa said that the MCC would ask property owners to specify the purpose of construction while applying for building licences, and that the MCC would take action against offenders. He asked officials to be more vigilant and warned that if he found more than two such cases in any locality, disciplinary action would be taken against the officers in charge of the area concerned.
Discussions were held on handing over the Harishchandra ghat crematorium to a charitable trust. While many Congress councillors opposed the move because the trust was run by BJP leaders, BJPleaders and a few JD(S) leaders have favoured it. The Mayor said the MCC could take back the crematorium if the trust failed to maintain it properly or to provide facilities to the public.
