Former DCM asks for relief to 78,000 property owners served notices to pay high penalty

Bengaluru: Former Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan on Tuesday asked the city civic agency to give concession to property owners, who were served notices to pay high penalty and interest for mistakes in mentioning the taxation zone.

According to senior officials in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, most of the 78,000 property owners unknowingly paid their taxes based on the application number mentioned in the previous years taxation receipts.

They did not check that the location of their property has been upgraded to a new taxation zone of the BBMP, the officials said.

As many aggrieved people met Narayan, he held a meeting with BBMP officials and requested them to give property owners relief as people are already in distress due to COVID- 19 and lockdown.

In a statement, Narayan, the BJP MLA from Malleswaram here, said there are 22 lakh properties in the city, of which 78,000 property owners mentioned the wrong taxation zone while paying property tax in 2016, for which they have been penalised now.

Due to the mistake, BBMP lost Rs 116 crore revenue, but the property owners should have been persuaded in 2016 itself, he said. Narayan suggested that the Urban Development Department be consulted on the matter.